2 Answers 2
NumPy derives from an older python library called Numeric (in fact, the first array object built for python). The arange function dates back to this library, and its etymology is detailed in its manual:
arrayrange()
The
arrayrange()function is similar to therange()function in Python, except that it returns an array as opposed to a list....
arange()is a shorthand forarrayrange().
Tellingly, there is another example with array(range(25)) (p.16), which is functionally the same as arrayrange().
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answered Mar 11, 2019 at 17:40
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And linspace is for linearly space(vs geomspace and logspace)?
It is explicitly modelled on the Python range function. The precedent for prefixing a was that in Python 1 there was already a variant of range called xrange.
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Though I wouldn't surprised if arange preceeds xrange. Any idea when xrange was added to Py2?
@hpaulj, Looking at python.org/doc/versions, it seems to have been added in python2.0, in October 2000.
xrange was in Python 1.5.2 (1998). Maybe earlier, but that would have been before my time.