[Python-Dev] Pre-PEP: Allow Empty Subscript List Without Parentheses (original) (raw)

Greg Ewing greg.ewing at canterbury.ac.nz
Sat Jun 10 08:15:19 CEST 2006

Nick Coghlan wrote:

I think it more comes from the n-dimensional array approach - 'n=0' is then a natural issue to consider.

But only if it makes sense. I still think there are some severe conceptual difficulties with 0D arrays. One is the question of how many items it contains. With 1 or more dimensions, you can talk about its size along any chosen dimension. But with 0 dimensions there's no size to measure. Who's to say a 0D array has a size of 1, then? Part of my brain keeps saying it should be 0 -- i.e. it contains nothing at all!

Also, what kind of thing does a[] yield? Do we finally, at last, get an actual scalar, or do we get a -1 dimensional array? :-)

I'm having trouble seeing a real use for a 0D array as something distinct from a scalar, as opposed to them just being an oddity that happens to arise as a side effect of the way Numeric/Numpy are implemented.

-- Greg

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