[ANN] Dimensions.jl, a library for accessing the scalar dimensions of structured types

Package Announcements
1

Hi all,

I’d like to announce a new package called Dimensions whose purpose is to make it easy to define and access a type’s “dimensions” (e.g., a Position type with x, y, and z fields has 3 dimensions). This is useful when you need to break arbitrary structured types “all the way down to the scalars.” Please see the readme here:

I hope this package establishes a pattern folks find useful, such that Dimensions might become a common way for defining this type of behavior.

I have registered this with the General registry, and it’s in the 3-day waiting period for new packages. @goerz left a comment there suggesting that I post here before it’s actually available to see if folks objected to the name, since the name is so general. There are certainly other viable names, but is the name “Dimensions” a problem for anyone? I have benefitted substantially from the Julia ecosystem and don’t want to make problems for folks. :slight_smile:

For reference, here is the PR into the General registry.

2

Hi Tucker,
Looks like this package nicely addresses a common problem in practice.

I also find that “Dimensions” might be too broad name for the scope of the package. Could I suggest one alternative, “StructDimensions”, which would fit with the existing theme of packages such as “StructArrays”, “StructEquality” and the like. All the best.

3

There’s a pretty generic

using AccessorsExtra

vals = getall(yourobj, RecursiveOfType(Real))

It can even go in the other direction, setall(yourobj, RecursiveOfType(Real), vals).