Re: [Numpy-discussion] Properties of ma.masked singleton

[Alexander B. <ale...@gm...>]

Yes, you are right. I did not realize that x[i] =3D None is legitimate
for dtype=3Dobject arrays. This can easily be fixed by using an instance
of an empty class instead of None.

My main concern was that since now x[i] provides full array inteface
in numpy regardless of the value of i, using a singleton value for the
same construct in ma leads to all kinds of surprizing results. For
example:

>>> ma.array([1.0],mask=3D[1])[0].dtype
<type 'int32_arrtype'>
>>> ma.array([1.0],mask=3D[0])[0].dtype
<type 'float64_arrtype'>

While I appreciate the utility of "x[i] =3D masked", particularly for
fancy i, I believe "x[i] is masked" is of limited usefulness.

Note that the first construct does not require a singleton - any
masked scalar can be used instead of the singleton.  The second
construct on the other hand would not work without a singleton.

I would disagree that "x[2:4] is masked is a red herring".  Consider
the following session:

>>> i =3D slice(2,4)
>>> x =3D ma.arange(5)
>>> x[i] =3D ma.masked
>>> x[i] is ma.masked
False

Note that the result would be true if i was an integer.

It is not obvious that "x[2:4] is masked" should be false is all
elements in 2:4 range are masked. Numpy deprecated conversion of size
> 1 arrays to bool in favor of explicit any or all:

>>> bool(array([1,1]))
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
ValueError: The truth value of an array with more than one element is
ambiguous. Use a.any() or a.all()

In my view "x[i] is masked" is ambiguous as well and x.mask.any() or
x.mask.all() seems to be a better choice (this would require use of
bool_(0) instead of None
to indicate no mask).

How much code out there relies on "x[i] is masked" construct? I've
used MA for many years (thanks for an excellent product, Paul!) but
never used this construct in my code.

Thanks.

-- sasha

On 1/6/06, Paul F. Dubois <pa...@pf...> wrote:
> I'll look into your complaints. Your proposed solution does not work:
> if x[2] is masked:
> and
> if x[2] is None:
> become indistinguishable. Likewise for assignment.
>
> Your example if x[2:4] is masked is a red herring. Obviously this
> statement is false no matter how you define 'masked'.
>
> I redid ma in a bit of a hurry and didn't pay any attention to the
> issues you raise as to len(masked), which I agree should be 1.
>
> Alexander Belopolsky wrote:
> > In the current numpy version ma.masked singleton has the following
> > properties:
> >
> >  >>> len(ma.masked)
> > 0
> >
> > which is a change from old MA, where
> >  >>> len(MA.masked)
> > 1
> >
> > Similarly:
> >
> >  >>> ma.masked.shape
> > (0,)
> >  >>> MA.masked.shape
> > ()
> >
> > It changes shape when filled:
> >
> >  >>> ma.masked.filled()
> > array([999999])
> >
> > and so on.
> >
> > The code contains numerous "if x is masked" statements to support all
> > this logic.
> >
> > I would like to suggest a somewhat radical change for your review.
> >
> > There are two main uses of ma.masked:
> >
> > 1. To set mask:
> >
> >  >>> x =3D ma.zeros(5)
> >  >>> x[2:4] =3D ma.masked
> >  >>> print x
> > [0 0 -- -- 0]
> >
> >
> > 2. To check if an element is masked:
> >
> >  >>> x[2] is ma.masked
> > True
> >
> >
> > The second property allows a cute looking idiom "x[i] is masked", but
> > only works for single element access:
> >
> >  >>> x[2:4] is ma.masked
> > False
> >
> > It also leads to strange results:
> >
> >  >>> x[2].shape
> > (0,)
> >
> >
> > My proposal is to eliminate the property #2 from ma and redefine  maske=
d
> > as None. Single element getitem will return a rank zero  MaskedArray. W=
e
> > can also add "is_masked" property, which will allow a  convenient check
> > in the form "x[i].is_masked".
> >
> > The main benefit of this proposal is that x[i] will be duck typing
> > compatible with numpy scalars.
> >
> > -- sasha
> >
> >
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