[SciPy-Dev] why this not report an error for a.dtype=float when a is mixed struc array

[Skipper Seabold]

On Sat, Jun 5, 2010 at 11:09 AM, Vincent Davis <vincent@vincentdavis.net> wrote:
> 2010/6/5 Stéfan van der Walt <stefan@sun.ac.za>:
>> On 4 June 2010 17:49, Vincent Davis <vincent@vincentdavis.net> wrote:
>>> Is there a reason not to have this return an error.
>>>>>> a1 = np.array([(1,3.3),(2,4.4)], dtype=[('a', int),('b', float)])
>>>>>> a1
>>> array([(1, 3.2999999999999998), (2, 4.4000000000000004)],
>>>      dtype=[('a', '<i8'), ('b', '<f8')])
>>>>>> a1.dtype=float
>>>>>> a1
>>> array([  4.94065646e-324,   3.30000000e+000,   9.88131292e-324,
>>>         4.40000000e+000])
>>
>> This is a feature!  Sometimes, it is handy to view the raw memory in
>> different ways.
>

You might find this thread helpful.  Especially, Chris's reply.

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.python.numeric.general/32664/

Skipper