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Numpy has a very poor API compared to Julia, Matlab, Mathematica, R. That’s just me comparing to the ones I know. It’s a mishmash of methods and functions, in-p

by newen 6y ago

Numpy has a very poor API compared to Julia, Matlab, Mathematica, R. That’s just me comparing to the ones I know. It’s a mishmash of methods and functions, in-place operations and non-modifying operations, confusing indexing and broadcasting API. There are much better things available for array manipulation.

sk2020 6y ago
I like R, but there is nothing elegant or consistent about its standard library. I don’t think you’re making a good-faith argument.
- newen 6y ago
  Don’t just randomly accuse people of making bad faith arguments. I’ve use R a lot and while it has its issues, it has a much better interface than numpy.
  - disgruntledphd2 6y ago
    Well they're different, right? R provides an interface to dataframes and matrices, whereas numpy is just for matrices (and their generalisations, arrrays). I think the appropriate comparison is between base R and Numpy + pandas. (FWIW, I agree with your major point, but then I learned R first so that may be biasing me).
  - sk2020 6y ago
    It’s hardly random. R functions could be noun-adjective or adjective-noun or underscored or camelCase or dotted ... and that’s just naming conventions. If someone, like you, says that Numpy sucks, but R is the real masterpiece, then that’s totally insincere. The good thing about R is that it’s free, the C FFI is OK and R-studio is decent. It’s API is a patchwork. It’s cool to say Java sucks or Python sucks on the orange site because they’re popular and if you say something popular sucks, well you must be a pretty cool guy who is smarter than all those rubes out there. The arguments are almost always total nonsense, though.
hansvm 6y ago
For all of numpy's faults I find it odd that you choose its indexing and broadcasting API as the thing that's confusing and worse than equivalents in Mathematica and R. I can't speak to Julia or Matlab, but I find working with arrays in the other two is like pulling teeth.
0thgen 6y ago
I'm curious what the outcome would be if we ran a poll asking what people find easier. I find numpy's API more intuitive, but I could be a minority. I will say that the differences between python and R syntax are almost trivial; I've taught classes with python and R example scripts that are almost _exactly_ the same, and run in both languages

by newen 6y ago

sk2020 6y ago

I like R, but there is nothing elegant or consistent about its standard library. I don’t think you’re making a good-faith argument.

newen 6y ago
Don’t just randomly accuse people of making bad faith arguments. I’ve use R a lot and while it has its issues, it has a much better interface than numpy.
- disgruntledphd2 6y ago
  Well they're different, right? R provides an interface to dataframes and matrices, whereas numpy is just for matrices (and their generalisations, arrrays). I think the appropriate comparison is between base R and Numpy + pandas. (FWIW, I agree with your major point, but then I learned R first so that may be biasing me).
- sk2020 6y ago
  It’s hardly random. R functions could be noun-adjective or adjective-noun or underscored or camelCase or dotted ... and that’s just naming conventions. If someone, like you, says that Numpy sucks, but R is the real masterpiece, then that’s totally insincere. The good thing about R is that it’s free, the C FFI is OK and R-studio is decent. It’s API is a patchwork. It’s cool to say Java sucks or Python sucks on the orange site because they’re popular and if you say something popular sucks, well you must be a pretty cool guy who is smarter than all those rubes out there. The arguments are almost always total nonsense, though.

hansvm 6y ago

For all of numpy's faults I find it odd that you choose its indexing and broadcasting API as the thing that's confusing and worse than equivalents in Mathematica and R. I can't speak to Julia or Matlab, but I find working with arrays in the other two is like pulling teeth.

0thgen 6y ago

I'm curious what the outcome would be if we ran a poll asking what people find easier. I find numpy's API more intuitive, but I could be a minority. I will say that the differences between python and R syntax are almost trivial; I've taught classes with python and R example scripts that are almost _exactly_ the same, and run in both languages