Array type and data type

>>> import numpy
>>> a = numpy.zeros(5)

>>> type(a)
<type 'numpy.ndarray'>
>>> isinstance(a, ndarray)    # is a of type ndarray?
True

>>> a.dtype                   # data (element) type object
dtype('float64')        
>>> a.dtype.name
'float64'
>>> a.dtype.char              # character code
'd'
>>> a.dtype.itemsize          # no of bytes per array element
8
>>> b = zeros(6, float32)
>>> a.dtype == b.dtype  # do a and b have the same data type?
False
>>> c = zeros(2, float)
>>> a.dtype == c.dtype
True