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Paper: An Array Module for Python
Monograph: 6, Twenty Years of ADASS
Page: 625
Authors:
Abstract: Although Python has long had a module for numeric array manipulations, it has had some shortcomings that prevent it from being as useful for astronomy applications as it could be. We have re-implemented the module to handle large arrays in a more memory-efficient manner, and to support direct access of data in tables and non-native data formats. The new module has been implemented mostly in Pyhton although the core computational loops are performed in C for efficiency. The new approach allows arrays to be sub-classed as well as new kinds of array objects, such as record arrays, to be created. This paper discusses the design and implementation issues that were addressed in the development of the new array module for Python and gives examples of its use.
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