Re: [Gretl-devel] python foreign problems

Am 27.02.2013 19:03, schrieb Allin Cottrell: > On Wed, 27 Feb 2013, Sven Schreiber wrote: > >> First, a prelim question: In the gretl_io.py file that gretl writes out, >> why use this function >> <python> >> def gretl_dotdir(): >> dotdir = "C:/Users/svenne/AppData/Roaming/gretl/" >> return dotdir >> </python> >> instead of just a plain string definition 'gretl_dotdir = "<whatever>"'? > > Because we don't like global variables? Actually, I'm not sure > about python and globals, but it seems safer/cleaner, though > admittedly more complex, to have a function. IIRC the scope of the corresponding string variable should be the module (here it's the same as the file), this shouldn't really become a global variable; from another file you would have to access it as 'gretl_io.gretl_dotdir' unless you 'import' it in some other way. I don't think there is really any advantage of wrapping this one-liner in a function.

>> Secondly, in the 'gretl_export()' function (also in gretl_io.py) the >> seemingly innocuous line >> 'r, c = M.shape' >> might be problematic for vectors (given the next issue this is currently >> hard to test, but I will). The point is that in numpy vectors may be >> represented as 1-dim-arrays; their 'shape' tuple will be '(n,)' and thus >> have only length one. I guess there are two solutions; either do a check >> like 'len(M.shape)==1', or force M to be a numpy-matrix which is >> guaranteed to be 2-dim like gretl matrices. Let me test and then think >> about it. > > Could we just wrap M as numpy.matrix(M) ? (The gretl_export > function depends on numpy anyway, via savetxt.) Probably we should use 'asmatrix(M)'

>> And finally, another indentation-related less severe problem: gretl's >> script editor's on-the-fly indentation is a little annoying when writing >> in Python because it does it wrong (understandably). Could this be >> somehow turned off inside foreign blocks? > > Yes, I'll work on that. Thanks again.