issue_comments: 1247157234

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https://github.com/pydata/xarray/pull/6975#issuecomment-1247157234 https://api.github.com/repos/pydata/xarray/issues/6975 1247157234 IC_kwDOAMm_X85KVhvy 35968931 2022-09-14T18:35:34Z 2022-09-14T18:37:48Z MEMBER

We should clarify that the aim of Index objects is to make more efficient all the operations made in the (discrete or continuous) space defined by the coordinate labels. That space is distinct from the discrete space defined by array element locations.

I think this should be one of the first things said. It defines what all the following discussion of Indexes does and does not affect.

I've tried to explain it in the "Index base class" section and the sections below, but maybe it should be emphasized more?

Yeah I think you do actually have that one covered, I just included it as another example of a naive question that everyone will have that is worth heading off very explicitly.

When I load the "air" tutorial data and it shows a Float64Index and DateTime64Index, where did they come from?

I guess you mean it is shown through ds.indexes?

ds.xindexes (vs. ds.indexes) still needs to be added in the docs (in a later PR?), which hopefully will address your concern here.

I meant like when did these indexes get automatically built? (Presumably on coordinate assignment)

Maybe Index also deserves its own entry there, where we could explain what indexes are, how they are different from variables (coordinates), how they are used or accessed in Xarray, etc.

1000% yes we need a page that explains what Index objects are, what they do, and how they work, and how they are handled automatically by default. This is pre-requisite knowledge (which apparently I don't have :sweat_smile: ) before trying to build your own custom index.

Overall, I think that the whole "Xarray Internals" section could be streamlined beyond a bunch of loosely-coupled document pages.

Probably, but having a loosely coupled page for each aspect of the internals would be a good initial aim.

I agree that we need more examples, but I also think that too much examples may tend to make things more confused.

That's why I like the "Explanation" vs "How-to" vs "Tutorials" distinction: use minimal code in the "Explanation" section (this PR) but put multiple more complex examples under "How to create a functionally-derived index", "how-to create a lazy index" etc.

Is it possible to do that with Sphinx / RST?

No idea, but that does look cool!

 
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