Is there a good reason to use `np.float32` throughout `xml_files.py`
ViridianForge opened this issue · 1 comments
ViridianForge commented
This question was raised during the review of #12.
Throughout xml_files.py
- all potential floating point data is regarded and cast to np.float32
. The issues this presents are two-fold:
- It adds a dependency of
numpy
to the class where it may not actually be necessary. - It requires
np.float32
be cast back into afloat
for the purposes of serializing the data intojson
.
The question is - do the reasons for using np.float32
outweigh the issues laid out above?
ViridianForge commented
Two investigatory points to start from.
1 - How much larger do MFFs and JSON that mffpy
exports get if we use float
in place of np.float32
?
2 - What floating point precision do NetStation MFFs utilize?