How do I assign a value to a multidimensional array element in a function with index and value as parameters

Question

I am trying to do something simple (i think). However, I obviously don't understand something about what is going on.

• I have a class that creates a multidimensional array
• I want methods to get and set elements of the array by passing the array index and value to methods of the class.

• Here is the code.

  from numpy import *
  
  class Space():
      def __init__(self, shape, mode):
          self.space = ndarray(shape, dtype=list )
          self.mode = mode
  
      def get(self, elem) :
          return(self.space[elem])
  
      def set(self, elem, val):
          self.space[elem] = val        
  shape = [2,2,2]
  s = Space(shape, 'wrap')
  s.set([1,1], [2,2])
  print s.get([1,1])
  

This should be a straight forward process. I am obviously not understanding something rather basic here. An explanation of what is going on and what to do would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

When accessing an item of a multi-dimensional array with the syntax a[i, j, k], the argument inside the square bracket operator is actually a tuple, not a list. It is equivalent to writing a[(i, j, k)], but inside the square brackets you are allowed to omit the parentheses. When calling a regular function, they are mandatory though.

s.set((1, 1), [2, 2])
print s.get((1, 1))

I'd suggest overriding __getitem__() and __setitem__() instead, so you can use the regular square bracket operator for your custom class.