I respect this opinion. However (and maybe this is legacy), while reading through the numeric.py source file, I was surprised at how short many of the functions are, generally. Functions like ones() and zeros() are pretty simple wrappers which call empty() and then copy over values.
FWIW, I had used numpy for over two years before realizing that the default behavior of iterating on a numpy array was to return slices over the first axis (although, this makes sense because it makes a 1d array like a list), and I think it is generally left out of any tutorials or guides. If nothing else I learned how to build the numpy source and how to make tests. And how to iterate over axes with np.rollaxis() ;) Any other opinions from people that haven't commented on the PR thread already? ag On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 3:10 PM, Robert Kern <[email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 6:54 PM, Matthew Brett <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hi, > > > > On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 10:42 AM, Robert Kern <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 6:30 PM, Matthew Brett <[email protected]> > wrote: > > >>> So the decision has to be based on some estimate of: > >>> > >>> 1) Cost for adding a new function to the namespace > >>> 2) Benefit : some combination of: Likelihood of needing to iterate > >>> over arbitrary axis. Likelihood of not finding rollaxis / transpose as > >>> a solution to this. Increased likelihood of finding iteraxis in this > >>> situation. > >> > >> 3) Comparison with other solutions that might obtain the same benefits > >> without the attendant costs: i.e. additional documentation in any > >> number of forms. > > > > Right, good point. That would also need to be weighted with the > > likelihood that people will find and read that documentation. > > In my opinion, duplicating functionality under different aliases just > so people can supposedly find things without reading the documentation > is not a viable strategy for building out an API. > > My suggestion is to start building out a "How do I ...?" section to > the User's Guide that answers small questions like this. "How do I > iterate over an arbitrary axis of an array?" should be sufficiently > discoverable. This is precisely the kind of problem that documentation > solves better than anything else. This is what we write documentation > for. Let's make use of it before trying something else. If we add such > a section, and still see many people not finding it, then we can > consider adding aliases. > > -- > Robert Kern > _______________________________________________ > NumPy-Discussion mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/numpy-discussion > -- Andrew Giessel, PhD Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School 220 Longwood Ave Boston, MA 02115 ph: 617.432.7971 email: [email protected]
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