[Numpy-discussion] Does float16 exist?

[Travis E. Oliphant]

Darren Dale wrote:
> One of my collaborators would like to use 16bit float arrays. According to 
> http://www.scipy.org/Tentative_NumPy_Tutorial, and references to float16 in 
> numpy.core.numerictypes, it appears that this should be possible, but the 
> following doesnt work:
>   

No, it's only possible, if the C-implementation NumPy was compiled with 
has 16-bits for its float scalar.

Only float, double, and long double are implemented.  These translate to 
various bit-widths on different platforms.  numerictypes is overly 
aggressive at guessing what they might translate to.

-Travis O.