[SciPy-Dev] why this not report an error for a.dtype=float when a is mixed struc array

[Stéfan van der Walt]

On 4 June 2010 17:49, Vincent Davis <vincent at vincentdavis.net> wrote:
> Is there a reason not to have this return an error.
>>>> a1 = np.array([(1,3.3),(2,4.4)], dtype=[('a', int),('b', float)])
>>>> a1
> array([(1, 3.2999999999999998), (2, 4.4000000000000004)],
>      dtype=[('a', '<i8'), ('b', '<f8')])
>>>> a1.dtype=float
>>>> a1
> array([  4.94065646e-324,   3.30000000e+000,   9.88131292e-324,
>         4.40000000e+000])

This is a feature!  Sometimes, it is handy to view the raw memory in
different ways.

You are probably looking for the "astype" method.

Regards
Stéfan