[Numpy-discussion] Array Protocol change for Python 2.6

[Tim Hochberg]

Travis Oliphant wrote:

>Tim Hochberg wrote:
>
>  
>
>>I was going to say that it may help to think of array_interface as 
>>returning a *view*, since that seems to be the semantics that could 
>>probably be implemented safely without too much trouble. However, it 
>>looks like that's not what happens. array_interface->shape and strides 
>>point to the raw shape and strides for the array. That looks like it's a 
>>problem. Isn't:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>>>ai = a.__array_interface__
>>>>>a.shape = newshape
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>going to result in ai having a stale pointers to shape and strides that 
>>no longer exist? 
>>
>>    
>>
>This is an implementation detail.  I'm still trying to gather some kind 
>of consensus on what to actually do here. 
>
There were three things mixed together in my post:

1. The current implementation of  __array_struct__ looks buggy. Should I 
go ahead and file a bug report so that this behaviour doesn't get 
blindly copied over from __array_struct__ to whatever the final dohickey 
is called or is that going to be totally rewritten in any case.

2. Whether __array_struct__ or __array_interface__ or whatever it gets 
called returns something that's kind of like a view (has it's own copies 
of shape and strides mainly) versus an alias for the original array 
(somehow tries to track the original arrays shape and strides) is a 
semantic difference, not an implementation details.  I suspect that no 
one really cares that much about this and we'll end up doing what's 
easiest to get right; I'm pretty certain that is view semantics. It may 
be helpful to pronounce on that now, since it's possible the semantics 
might influence the name chosen, but I don't think it's critical.

3. The implementation details I provided were, uh, implentation details.

-tim


> There is no such 
>__array_interface__  attribute at this point.
>
>
>-Travis
>
>
>
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