[Numpy-discussion] consensus

[Chris Barker]

On 10/29/11 2:48 PM, Ralf Gommers wrote:

>     That's true, but I am hoping that the difference between - say:
>
>     a[0:2] = np.NA
>
>     and
>
>     a.mask[0:2] = False
>
>     would be easy enough to imagine.
>
>
> It is in this case. I agree the explicit ``a.mask`` is clearer.

Interesting -- I suspect I'm mirror's Pandas' users here:

a[0:2] = np.NA

is simpler and easier to me -- I'm avoiding the word "clearer" because I
m not sure what it means -- if we thin it's important for the user to 
understand that the NA value is implemented with a mask, then setting 
the mask explicitly is certainly clearer -- but I don't think that's 
important. Indeed, I still like the idea that for "casual" use, NA could 
be a special value, and could be a mask, and that the user does not need 
to know the difference.

-Chris




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