[Numpy-discussion] Raveling, reshape order keyword unnecessarily confuses index and memory ordering

[Matthew Brett]

Hi,

On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 9:21 AM, Chris Barker - NOAA Federal
<chris.barker at noaa.gov> wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 6:13 PM, Matthew Brett <matthew.brett at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> We all agree that 'order' is used with two different and orthogonal
>>> meanings in numpy.

Brief thank you for your helpful and thoughtful discussion.

> well, not entirely orthogonal -- they are the some concept, used in
> different contexts,

Here's a further clarification, in the hope that it is helpful:

Input and output index orderings are orthogonal - I can read the data
with C index ordering and return an array that is index ordered
any-old-how.

F and C are used in the sense of F contiguous and C contiguous - where
contiguous is not the same concept as index ordering.

So I think it's hard to say these concepts are not orthogonal, simply
in the technical sense that order='F" could mean:

* read my data using F-style index ordering
* return my data in an array using F-style index ordering
* (related to above) return my data in F-contiguous memory layout

> so there is some benefit to their having
> similarity.

Would you agree with the stuff above?   If you do - do you agree that
not separating these ideas could be confusing?

Cheers,

Matthew