.. _numba-types: ==================== Types and signatures ==================== Rationale ========= As an optimizing compiler, Numba needs to decide on the type of each variable to generate efficient machine code. Python's standard types are not precise enough for that, so we had to develop our own fine-grained type system. You will encounter Numba types mainly when trying to inspect the results of Numba's type inference, for :ref:`debugging ` or :ref:`educational ` purposes. However, you need to use types explicitly if compiling code :ref:`ahead-of-time `. Signatures ========== A signature specifies the type of a function. Exactly which kind of signature is allowed depends on the context (:term:`AOT` or :term:`JIT` compilation), but signatures always involve some representation of Numba types to specify the concrete types for the function's arguments and, if required, the function's return type. An example function signature would be the string ``"f8(i4, i4)"`` (or the equivalent ``"float64(int32, int32)"``) which specifies a function taking two 32-bit integers and returning a double-precision float. Basic types =========== The most basic types can be expressed through simple expressions. The symbols below refer to attributes of the main ``numba`` module (so if you read "boolean", it means that symbol can be accessed as ``numba.boolean``). Many types are available both as a canonical name and a shorthand alias, following Numpy's conventions. Numbers ------- The following table contains the elementary numeric types currently defined by Numba and their aliases. =================== ========= =================================== Type name(s) Shorthand Comments =================== ========= =================================== boolean b1 represented as a byte uint8, byte u1 8-bit unsigned byte uint16 u2 16-bit unsigned integer uint32 u4 32-bit unsigned integer uint64 u8 64-bit unsigned integer int8, char i1 8-bit signed byte int16 i2 16-bit signed integer int32 i4 32-bit signed integer int64 i8 64-bit signed integer intc -- C int-sized integer uintc -- C int-sized unsigned integer intp -- pointer-sized integer uintp -- pointer-sized unsigned integer float32 f4 single-precision floating-point number float64, double f8 double-precision floating-point number complex64 c8 single-precision complex number complex128 c16 double-precision complex number =================== ========= =================================== Arrays ------ The easy way to declare array types is to subscript an elementary type according to the number of dimensions. For example a 1-dimension single-precision array:: >>> numba.float32[:] array(float32, 1d, A) or a 3-dimension array of the same underlying type:: >>> numba.float32[:, :, :] array(float32, 3d, A) This syntax defines array types with no particular layout (producing code that accepts both non-contiguous and contiguous arrays), but you can specify a particular contiguity by using the ``::1`` index either at the beginning or the end of the index specification:: >>> numba.float32[::1] array(float32, 1d, C) >>> numba.float32[:, :, ::1] array(float32, 3d, C) >>> numba.float32[::1, :, :] array(float32, 3d, F) Functions --------- .. warning:: The feature of considering functions as first-class type objects is under development. Functions are often considered as certain transformations of input arguments to output values. Within Numba :term:`JIT` compiled functions, the functions can also be considered as objects, that is, functions can be passed around as arguments or return values, or used as items in sequences, in addition to being callable. First-class function support is enabled for all Numba :term:`JIT` compiled functions and Numba ``cfunc`` compiled functions except when: - using a non-CPU compiler, - the compiled function is a Python generator, - the compiled function has Omitted arguments, - or the compiled function returns Optional value. To disable first-class function support, use ``no_cfunc_wrapper=True`` decorator option. For instance, consider an example where the Numba :term:`JIT` compiled function applies user-specified functions as a composition to an input argument:: >>> @numba.njit ... def composition(funcs, x): ... r = x ... for f in funcs[::-1]: ... r = f(r) ... return r ... >>> @numba.cfunc("double(double)") ... def a(x): ... return x + 1.0 ... >>> @numba.njit ... def b(x): ... return x * x ... >>> composition((a, b), 0.5), 0.5 ** 2 + 1 (1.25, 1.25) >>> composition((b, a, b, b, a), 0.5), b(a(b(b(a(0.5))))) (36.75390625, 36.75390625) Here, ``cfunc`` compiled functions ``a`` and ``b`` are considered as first-class function objects because these are passed in to the Numba :term:`JIT` compiled function ``composition`` as arguments, that is, the ``composition`` is :term:`JIT` compiled independently from its argument function objects (that are collected in the input argument ``funcs``). Currently, first-class function objects can be Numba ``cfunc`` compiled functions, :term:`JIT` compiled functions, and objects that implement the Wrapper Address Protocol (WAP, see below) with the following restrictions: ======================== ============ ============== =========== Context JIT compiled cfunc compiled WAP objects ======================== ============ ============== =========== Can be used as arguments yes yes yes Can be called yes yes yes Can be used as items yes\* yes yes Can be returned yes yes yes Namespace scoping yes yes yes Automatic overload yes no no ======================== ============ ============== =========== \* at least one of the items in a sequence of first-class function objects must have a precise type. Wrapper Address Protocol - WAP ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Wrapper Address Protocol provides an API for making any Python object a first-class function for Numba :term:`JIT` compiled functions. This assumes that the Python object represents a compiled function that can be called via its memory address (function pointer value) from Numba :term:`JIT` compiled functions. The so-called WAP objects must define the following two methods: .. method:: __wrapper_address__(self) -> int Return the memory address of a first-class function. This method is used when a Numba :term:`JIT` compiled function tries to call the given WAP instance. .. method:: signature(self) -> numba.typing.Signature Return the signature of the given first-class function. This method is used when passing in the given WAP instance to a Numba :term:`JIT` compiled function. In addition, the WAP object may implement the ``__call__`` method. This is necessary when calling WAP objects from Numba :term:`JIT` compiled functions in :term:`object mode`. As an example, let us call the standard math library function ``cos`` within a Numba :term:`JIT` compiled function. The memory address of ``cos`` can be established after loading the math library and using the ``ctypes`` package:: >>> import numba, ctypes, ctypes.util, math >>> libm = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary(ctypes.util.find_library('m')) >>> class LibMCos(numba.types.WrapperAddressProtocol): ... def __wrapper_address__(self): ... return ctypes.cast(libm.cos, ctypes.c_voidp).value ... def signature(self): ... return numba.float64(numba.float64) ... >>> @numba.njit ... def foo(f, x): ... return f(x) ... >>> foo(LibMCos(), 0.0) 1.0 >>> foo(LibMCos(), 0.5), math.cos(0.5) (0.8775825618903728, 0.8775825618903728) Miscellaneous Types ------------------- There are some non-numerical types that do not fit into the other categories. =================== ================================================= Type name(s) Comments =================== ================================================= pyobject generic Python object voidptr raw pointer, no operations can be performed on it =================== ================================================= Advanced types ============== For more advanced declarations, you have to explicitly call helper functions or classes provided by Numba. .. warning:: The APIs documented here are not guaranteed to be stable. Unless necessary, it is recommended to let Numba infer argument types by using the :ref:`signature-less variant of @jit `. .. A word of note: I only documented those types that can be genuinely useful to users, i.e. types that can be passed as parameters to a JIT function. Other types such as tuple are only usable in type inference. Inference --------- .. function:: numba.typeof(value) Create a Numba type accurately describing the given Python *value*. ``ValueError`` is raised if the value isn't supported in :term:`nopython mode`. :: >>> numba.typeof(np.empty(3)) array(float64, 1d, C) >>> numba.typeof((1, 2.0)) (int64, float64) >>> numba.typeof([0]) reflected list(int64) Numpy scalars ------------- Instead of using :func:`~numba.typeof`, non-trivial scalars such as structured types can also be constructed programmatically. .. function:: numba.from_dtype(dtype) Create a Numba type corresponding to the given Numpy *dtype*:: >>> struct_dtype = np.dtype([('row', np.float64), ('col', np.float64)]) >>> ty = numba.from_dtype(struct_dtype) >>> ty Record([('row', '>> ty[:, :] unaligned array(Record([('row', '`_. Arrays ------ .. class:: numba.types.Array(dtype, ndim, layout) Create an array type. *dtype* should be a Numba type. *ndim* is the number of dimensions of the array (a positive integer). *layout* is a string giving the layout of the array: ``A`` means any layout, ``C`` means C-contiguous and ``F`` means Fortran-contiguous. Optional types -------------- .. class:: numba.optional(typ) Create an optional type based on the underlying Numba type *typ*. The optional type will allow any value of either *typ* or :const:`None`. :: >>> @jit((optional(intp),)) ... def f(x): ... return x is not None ... >>> f(0) True >>> f(None) False