I ran into unexpected results in a python if clause today:
import numpy
if numpy.allclose(6.0, 6.1, rtol=0, atol=0.5):
print 'close enough' # works as expected (prints message)
if numpy.allclose(6.0, 6.1, rtol=0, atol=0.5) is True:
print 'close enough' # does NOT work as expected (prints nothing)
After some poking around (i.e., this question, and in particular this answer), I understand the cause: the type returned by numpy.allclose() is numpy.bool_ rather than plain old bool, and apparently if foo = numpy.bool_(1), then if foo will evaluate to True while if foo is True will evaluate to False. This appears to be the work of the is operator.
My questions are: why does numpy have its own boolean type, and what is best practice in light of this situation? I can get away with writing if foo: to get expected behavior in the example above, but I like the more stringent if foo is True: because it excludes things like 2 and [2] from returning True, and sometimes the explicit type check is desirable.
解决方案why does numpy have its own boolean type
Space and speed. Numpy stores things in compact arrays; if it can fit a boolean into a single byte it'll try. You can't easily do this with Python objects, as you have to store references which slows calculations down significantly.
I can get away with writing if foo: to get expected behavior in the example above, but I like the more stringent if foo is True: because it excludes things like 2 and [2] from returning True, and sometimes the explicit type check is desirable.
Well, don't do that.