Message 132722 - Python tracker

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Author	Eli.Stevens
Recipients	Eli.Stevens
Date	2011-04-01.01:00:14
SpamBayes Score	4.5189794e-09
Marked as misclassified	No
Message-id	<1301619617.43.0.214438166588.issue11734@psf.upfronthosting.co.za>
In-reply-to

Content
Numpy 1.6.0 adds support for a half-float (16-bit) data type, but cannot currently export a buffer interface to the data since neither PEP 3118 nor the struct module (referenced by PEP 3118) support the data type. I am proposing that the struct module be extended to support half floats, and will be providing a patch that implements that behavior. The current numpy implementation (1.6.0b1) uses the 'e' character to indicate half floats; I don't have a vested interest in what character is used. If consensus between CPython and numpy is reached for using a different character, I will update my patches (but I don't plan on participating in the bike shedding prior to that point). For reference: python-ideas thread: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/2011-March/009650.html numpy-discussion thread: http://mail.scipy.org/pipermail/numpy-discussion/2011-March/055667.html cython-user thread (less relevant to this issue specifically): http://groups.google.com/group/cython-users/browse_thread/thread/6bf811409cdab89e

Numpy 1.6.0 adds support for a half-float (16-bit) data type, but
cannot currently export a buffer interface to the data since neither PEP 3118 nor the struct module (referenced by PEP 3118) support the data type.

I am proposing that the struct module be extended to support half floats, and will be providing a patch that implements that behavior.

The current numpy implementation (1.6.0b1) uses the 'e' character to indicate half floats; I don't have a vested interest in what character is used.  If consensus between CPython and numpy is reached for using a different character, I will update my patches (but I don't plan on participating in the bike shedding prior to that point).

For reference:

python-ideas thread:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/2011-March/009650.html

numpy-discussion thread:
http://mail.scipy.org/pipermail/numpy-discussion/2011-March/055667.html

cython-user thread (less relevant to this issue specifically):
http://groups.google.com/group/cython-users/browse_thread/thread/6bf811409cdab89e

History
Date	User	Action	Args
2011-04-01 01:00:17	Eli.Stevens	set	recipients: + Eli.Stevens
2011-04-01 01:00:17	Eli.Stevens	set	messageid: <1301619617.43.0.214438166588.issue11734@psf.upfronthosting.co.za>
2011-04-01 01:00:15	Eli.Stevens	link	issue11734 messages
2011-04-01 01:00:14	Eli.Stevens	create