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.
