Difference between frompyfunc and vectorize in numpy

Question

What is the difference between vectorize and frompyfunc in numpy?

Both seem very similar. What is a typical use case for each of them?

Edit:

Answer 1

As JoshAdel points out, vectorize wraps frompyfunc. Vectorize adds extra features:

• Copies the docstring from the original function
• Allows you to exclude an argument from broadcasting rules.
• Returns an array of the correct dtype instead of dtype=object

Edit: After some brief benchmarking, I find that vectorize is significantly slower (~50%) than frompyfunc for large arrays. If performance is critical in your application, benchmark your use-case first.

`

>>> a = numpy.indices((3,3)).sum(0)

>>> print a, a.dtype
[[0 1 2]
 [1 2 3]
 [2 3 4]] int32

>>> def f(x,y):
    """Returns 2 times x plus y"""
    return 2*x+y

>>> f_vectorize = numpy.vectorize(f)

>>> f_frompyfunc = numpy.frompyfunc(f, 2, 1)
>>> f_vectorize.__doc__
'Returns 2 times x plus y'

>>> f_frompyfunc.__doc__
'f (vectorized)(x1, x2[, out])\n\ndynamic ufunc based on a python function'

>>> f_vectorize(a,2)
array([[ 2,  4,  6],
       [ 4,  6,  8],
       [ 6,  8, 10]])

>>> f_frompyfunc(a,2)
array([[2, 4, 6],
       [4, 6, 8],
       [6, 8, 10]], dtype=object)

`