Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!xlned.com!feeder1.xlned.com!newsfeed.xs4all.nl!newsfeed1a.news.xs4all.nl!xs4all!newsgate.cistron.nl!newsgate.news.xs4all.nl!post.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail Return-Path: X-Original-To: python-list@python.org Delivered-To: python-list@mail.python.org X-Spam-Status: OK 0.008 X-Spam-Evidence: '*H*': 0.98; '*S*': 0.00; 'nested': 0.07; '[1,': 0.09; 'method,': 0.09; 'received:80.91': 0.09; 'received:80.91.229': 0.09; 'received:gmane.org': 0.09; 'received:list': 0.09; 'c):': 0.16; 'loops': 0.16; 'received:80.91.229.3': 0.16; 'received:dip0.t-ipconnect.de': 0.16; 'received:plane.gmane.org': 0.16; 'received:t-ipconnect.de': 0.16; 'subject:skip:m 10': 0.16; 'wrote:': 0.18; '>>>': 0.22; 'header:User-Agent:1': 0.23; "haven't": 0.24; "i've": 0.25; 'header:X-Complaints-To:1': 0.27; 'function': 0.29; 'dimensions': 0.31; 'loads': 0.31; 'problem': 0.35; 'problem.': 0.35; 'but': 0.35; 'version': 0.36; 'subject:?': 0.36; 'should': 0.36; 'being': 0.38; 'to:addr:python-list': 0.38; 'anything': 0.39; 'sure': 0.39; 'to:addr:python.org': 0.39; 'received:org': 0.40; 'space': 0.40; '20,': 0.68; 'frank': 0.68; 'evaluate': 0.72; '100': 0.79; 'subject:space': 0.84; 'technique': 0.93 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: python-list@python.org From: Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> Subject: Re: Pythonic way to iterate through multidimensional space? Date: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 22:48:10 +0200 Organization: None References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: p57bdb70c.dip0.t-ipconnect.de User-Agent: KNode/4.13.2 X-BeenThere: python-list@python.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.15 Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion list for the Python programming language List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Message-ID: Lines: 43 NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:888:2000:d::a6 X-Trace: 1407271711 news.xs4all.nl 2840 [2001:888:2000:d::a6]:34236 X-Complaints-To: abuse@xs4all.nl Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:75753 Frank Miles wrote: > I need to evaluate a complicated function over a multidimensional space > as part of an optimization problem. This is a somewhat general problem > in which the number of dimensions and the function being evaluated can > vary from problem to problem. > > I've got a working version (with loads of conditionals, and it only works > to #dimensions <= 10), but I'd like something simpler and clearer and > less hard-coded. > > I've web-searched for some plausible method, but haven't found anything > "nice". Any recommendations where I should look, or what technique should > be used? Not sure this is what you want, but if you have nested for loops -- these can be replaced with itertools.product(): >>> a = [1, 2] >>> b = [10, 20, 30] >>> c = [100] >>> for x in a: ... for y in b: ... for z in c: ... print(x, y, z) ... 1 10 100 1 20 100 1 30 100 2 10 100 2 20 100 2 30 100 >>> for xyz in product(a, b, c): ... print(*xyz) ... 1 10 100 1 20 100 1 30 100 2 10 100 2 20 100 2 30 100