[Numpy-discussion] bug or feature?

[humufr@yah...]

Thank you to both of you for this explanatin. I'm coming from the fortran 
world and so I never had to deal with this before...

Sorry to have polluate the list for a stupid things

Thanks again that clarify the problem 

Nicolas



Le Thursday 08 February 2007 17:01:36 Travis Oliphant, vous avez écrit :
> humufr@yahoo.fr wrote:
> >I have a big problem with numpy, numarray and Numeric (all version)
> >
> >If I'm using the script at the bottom, I obtain these results:
> >
> >var1 before function is  [3 4 5]
> >var2 before function is  1
> >var1 after function must be [3 4 5] is  [ 9 12 15]     <------ problem
> >var2 after function must be 1 is  1
> >var3 must be the [9 12 15] is  [ 9 12 15]
> >var4 must be the 'toto' is  toto
> >
> >
> >I'm very surprised by the line noted. I always thinking that the input
> >variable didn't change the variable itself outside the function.
>
> To save yourself confusion, you need to understand the difference
> between mutable and immutable types.  Mutable types can be changed
> inside of a function call.
>
> You also need to understand that = is a "name-binding operation only"
> it does not change objects.
>
> >Is it normal and so do I have to do a copy of the input data each time I'm
> >calling a function?
>
> Yes, it's very normal, if your function does an "in-place" operation on
> a mutable type.
>
> Consider the following code:
>
> def test(var1, var2):
>       var1[0] *= 3  # this accesses the 0'th element of var1 and alters it.
>       var2 = 'toto'  # this makes a new object and names it with var2
>                             # whatever was passed in is gone
>       return var1, var2
>
> test([1,2,3],[1,2])
>
> will return
>
> [3,2,3], 'toto'
>
>
>
> -Travis
>
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