In Fortran and some other languages, you can write exp(x) whether x is a scalar or an array. In Julia, you need to write exp.(x) if x is an array. What is the benefit of requiring the dot?

There are plenty of functions that would be ambiguous, such as multiplication between two matrices of the same shape – do you want that to be matrix multiplication or elementwise? You need both for e.g. convolutional neural networks. Languages like Python with numpy generally make those choices on a…

Why does Julia require a . for broadcasting?

Internals & Design

stevengj Split this topic May 18, 2021, 3:14pm 6

14 posts were split to a new topic: When does exp(A) ≈ exp.(A)?

Topic		Replies	Views
Trace of broadcasting General Usage	4	360	February 27, 2020
Extending broadcasts to matrix exponentials? General Usage proposal , broadcast , matrices	7	558	June 8, 2022
Dot position to broadcast: f. vs .+ General Usage	5	958	May 29, 2017
Difference between 'x.=y' and 'x=y' New to Julia question	6	421	January 5, 2024
Julia broadcasting notation: period before or after? New to Julia	10	1093	June 9, 2021

Why does Julia require a . for broadcasting?

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