[Numpy-discussion] numarray complex comparisons

[Perry Greenfield]

The questions just keep coming...

We need to decide whether or not complex comparisons work.
They do not work for Python scalars. Consistency would argue
for them not working for numarray arrays. However some argue:

1) not allowing them defeats more generic programming. We agreed
until we found that IDL doesn't support them either, and we never
noticed. We are skeptical of this claim and would like to see
real-life examples.

2) it is useful to allow comparisons since that would result in
repeatable, sorting of values (e.g., to find duplicate values)
for ordering purposes. Cannot this just be handled by the sort
routines themselves? Why must this result in comparison operators
working?

In the absence of good examples for 1) or good arguments for 2)
we propose to make complex comparisons generate exceptions.

Perry Greenfield