[NumPy-Tickets] [NumPy] #1192: integer dot product

[NumPy Trac]

#1192: integer dot product
----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------
  Reporter:  jloper   |       Owner:  somebody
      Type:  defect   |      Status:  closed  
  Priority:  normal   |   Milestone:          
 Component:  Other    |     Version:  1.2.1   
Resolution:  invalid  |    Keywords:  dot int8
----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------
Changes (by rgommers):

  * status:  new => closed
  * resolution:  => invalid


Old description:

> the 'dot' function is designed to work ONLY WITH FLOATING POINT NUMBERS,
> but it doesn't raise an exception or even a warning when you feed it
> integer values.  This is going to confuse people.
>
> In [239]: a=require(randint(0,2,5000),int8)
> In [240]: b=require(randint(0,2,5000),int8)
> In [241]: dot(a,b); sum(a*b)
> Out[241]: -82
> Out[241]: 1198
>
> Let's just say it is a very rare use-case that people want sum(a*b) mod
> 128.

New description:

 the 'dot' function is designed to work ONLY WITH FLOATING POINT NUMBERS,
 but it doesn't raise an exception or even a warning when you feed it
 integer values.  This is going to confuse people.
 {{{
 In [239]: a=require(randint(0,2,5000),int8)
 In [240]: b=require(randint(0,2,5000),int8)
 In [241]: dot(a,b); sum(a*b)
 Out[241]: -82
 Out[241]: 1198
 }}}
 Let's just say it is a very rare use-case that people want sum(a*b) mod
 128.

--

Comment:

 Your example works fine with int32, see below, so your assertion it works
 only with floats is false. If one uses int8 the expected return values are
 also of dtype int8. If you use int8 arrays, it's often *because* you want
 to use integer arithmetic with its own rules. So I think this ticket can
 be closed.

 {{{
 In [3]: from numpy.random import randint

 In [4]: a = randint(0, 2, 5000).astype(np.int8)

 In [5]: a
 Out[5]: array([1, 1, 1, ..., 0, 1, 0], dtype=int8)

 In [6]: b = randint(0, 2, 5000).astype(np.int8)

 In [8]: np.dot(a, b); sum(a*b)
 Out[8]: -13
 Out[8]: 1267

 In [10]: a = randint(0, 2, 5000).astype(np.int32)

 In [11]: b = randint(0, 2, 5000).astype(np.int32)

 In [12]: np.dot(a, b); sum(a*b)
 Out[12]: 1255
 Out[12]: 1255
 }}}

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://projects.scipy.org/numpy/ticket/1192#comment:1>
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