Very helpful, thanks for the explanation Mikera!
On Thursday, July 11, 2013 6:45:35 AM UTC-5, Mikera wrote: > > This is a heavily overloaded naming space - especially when you consider > code.matrix as well, and usage of these words in mathematical / scientific > communities. > > Data scientists generally expect a "vector" to be a 1D collection of > numeric values, in the same sense that a "matrix" is a 2D collection of > numeric values. Sometimes "array" is also used as a generalisation of this > to mean N-Dimensional arrays (tensors and suchlike), e.g. in NumPy. > > I would avoid using "array" when you mean a Clojure Persistent Vector. > "array" is most likely referring to the host platform array type. > > Whenever there is a potential for confusion, I always find it is helpful > to add an extra word to resolve the ambiguity, e.g. > - 1D vector / 2D matrix / ND array - when talking about scientific / > mathematical arrays (typically in a core.matrix context) > - Persistent Vector / Clojure Vector - when talking about a Clojure > persistent vector data structure > - Java Vector - when talking about the old java.util.Vector (not that > anyone should be using it nowadays, but still it's there....) > - Java array - when talking about an Object[], double[] etc. (this seems > to be the convention in Clojure docstrings for aget, alength etc.) > > Hope that adds some clarity.... > > On Thursday, 11 July 2013 02:48:38 UTC+1, vra...@gmail.com wrote: >> >> I see that Lists and Vectors are similar, but have different uses and for >> logical reasons. My question may be more about language of datatypes in >> Clojure than usage. >> >> Is it appropriate to use the term Array and Vector interchangeably when >> writing documentation about Clojure/EDN for non-Clojure programmers? (1-- >> "Vector" can be a difficult concept to "map" in English without context, >> for instance: "so it's a direction as well as a value?") (2-- Map (Clojure) >> / Dict (Python) / Tuple (Python) / Object (JavaScript) / Hash (Ruby), >> there's probably no resolution there.) >> >> I'm hesitant to use the word Array interchangeably with Vector in >> technical specs since Array occurs in Clojure at least as array-map and >> to-array, which aren't the same as a Vector. On the other hand, "Array" >> would seem especially interchangeable in documentation when talking about >> Clojure in context of ClojureScript, but descriptive language about Clojure >> should probably stay consistent regardless of the hosting programming >> language. >> >> -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
