[Numpy-discussion] Problem with concatenate and object arrays

[Travis Oliphant]

Charles R Harris wrote:
> On 9/6/06, *Charles R Harris* <charlesr.harris at gmail.com 
> <mailto:charlesr.harris at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>     On 9/6/06, *Travis Oliphant* < oliphant.travis at ieee.org
>     <mailto:oliphant.travis at ieee.org>> wrote:
>
>         Charles R Harris wrote:
>         >
>         > Where is array at this point?
>         Basically it supports the old Numeric behavior wherein object
>         array's
>         are treated as before *except* for when an error would have
>         occurred
>         previously when the "new behavior" kicks in.  Anything that
>         violates
>         that is a bug needing to be fixed.
>
>         This leaves the new object-array constructor used less
>         often.  It could
>         be exported explicitly into an oarray constructor, but I'm not
>         sure
>         about the advantages of that approach.   There are benefits to
>         having
>         object arrays constructed in the same way as other arrays.  It
>         turns out
>         many people actually like that feature of Numeric, which is
>         the reason I
>         didn't go the route of numarray which pulled object arrays out.
>
>         At this point, however, object arrays can even be part of
>         records and so
>         need to be an integral part of the data-type description.  
>         Pulling that
>         out is not going to happen.  A more intelligent object-array
>         constructor, however, may be a useful tool. 
>
>
>     OK. I do have a couple of questions. Let me insert the docs for
>     array and asarray :
>
>         """array(object, dtype=None, copy=1,order=None, subok=0,ndmin=0)
>
>         Return an array from object with the specified date-type.
>
>         Inputs:
>           object - an array, any object exposing the array interface, any
>                     object whose __array__ method returns an array, or any
>                     (nested) sequence.
>           dtype  - The desired data-type for the array.  If not given,
>     then
>                     the type will be determined as the minimum type
>     required
>                     to hold the objects in the sequence.  This
>     argument can only
>                     be used to 'upcast' the array.  For downcasting,
>     use the
>                     .astype(t) method.
>           copy   - If true, then force a copy.  Otherwise a copy will
>     only occur
>                     if __array__ returns a copy, obj is a nested
>     sequence, or
>                     a copy is needed to satisfy any of the other
>     requirements
>           order  - Specify the order of the array.  If order is 'C',
>     then the
>                     array will be in C-contiguous order (last-index
>     varies the
>                     fastest).  If order is 'FORTRAN', then the
>     returned array
>                     will be in Fortran-contiguous order (first-index
>     varies the
>                     fastest).  If order is None, then the returned
>     array may
>                     be in either C-, or Fortran-contiguous order or even
>                     discontiguous.
>           subok  - If True, then sub-classes will be passed-through,
>     otherwise
>                     the returned array will be forced to be a
>     base-class array
>           ndmin  - Specifies the minimum number of dimensions that the
>     resulting
>                     array should have.  1's will be pre-pended to the
>     shape as
>                     needed to meet this requirement.
>
>         """)
>
>     asarray(a, dtype=None, order=None)
>         Returns a as an array.
>
>         Unlike array(), no copy is performed if a is already an array.
>     Subclasses
>         are converted to base class ndarray.
>
>     1) Is it true that array doesn't always return a copy except by
>     default? asarray says it contrasts with array in this regard.
>     Maybe copy=0 should be deprecated.
>
>     2) Is asarray is basically array with copy=0?
>
>     3) Is asanyarray basically array with copy=0 and subok=1?
>
>     4) Is there some sort of precedence table for conversions? To me
>     it looks like the most deeply nested lists are converted to arrays
>     first, numeric if they contain all numeric types, object
>     otherwise. I assume the algorithm then ascends up through the
>     hierarchy like traversing a binary tree in postorder?
>
>     5) All nesting must be to the same depth and the deepest nested
>     items must have the same length.
>
>     6) How is the difference between lists and "lists" determined, i.e.,
>
>     In [3]: array([list([1,2,3]),list([1,2])], dtype = object)
>     Out[3]: array([[1, 2, 3], [1, 2]], dtype=object)
>
>     In [8]: array([array([1,2,3]),array([1,2])], dtype = object)
>     Out[8]: array([[1 2 3], [1 2]], dtype=object)
>
>
>     In [9]: array([1,2,3],[1,2]], dtype = object)
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>        File "<ipython console>", line 1
>          array([1,2,3],[1,2]], dtype = object)
>                             ^
>     SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>
>     Is the difference that list(...) and array(...) are passed as
>     functions (lazy evaluation), but a list is just a list?
>
>     Sorry to be asking all these questions, but I would like to try
>     making the documentation be a bit of a reference. I am sure I will
>     have more questions ;)
>
>         -Travis
>
>
> And, voila, ragged arrays:
>
> In [9]: a = array([array([1,2,3]),array([1,2])], dtype = object)
>
> In [10]: a*2
> Out[10]: array([[2 4 6], [2 4]], dtype=object)
>
> In [11]: a + a
> Out[11]: array([[2 4 6], [2 4]], dtype=object)

Now I remember that this was my original motivation for futzing with the 
object-array constructor in the first place.  So, now you get there only 
after an attempt to make a "rectangular" array first.

-Travis