geomask.match(): check for duplicates

[araichoor]

the desitarget.geomask.match() function only works if there are no duplicates in the input arguments.
this is correctly written in the docstr; however, not everyone carefully reads a docstr :)

if I m correct, with the current version, when the arguments contain duplicates, the code just proceeds, but the outputs are not meaningful; so it s likely the user will be hurt by that.

that s why it would be better/safer to add a check that none of the arguments have duplicates; and just return an errror if they do.
something like:

if np.unique(A).size != len(A):
    msg = "A contains duplicates"
    log.error(msg)
    raise ValueError(msg)
if np.unique(B).size != len(B):
    msg = "B contains duplicates"
    log.error(msg)
    raise ValueError(msg)

also, with writing the code snippet above, I m wondering if A and B should only be 1d-array...

[araichoor]

@geordie666, another suggestion for this one:

actually, maybe:

• add an argument to say if the check for duplicates should be done or not;
• set the default to True;
  e.g.: match(A, B, check_for_dups=True); and also for the "twin" function: match_to(A, B, check_for_dups=True).

would that make sense?

the motivation for that is that this check can take few seconds for 1e8 arrays, and if one is really looking for speed -- and already knows that the inputs don t have duplicates, this could be a "loss" of time.

[context: I ve a in-development fiberassign update using match(), to speed up the code when running at once several hundreds of tiles with several tens of millions of targets]

[geordie666]

Ah, yes, sorry, this fell off my plate for a while.

Would it be better to set the default to check_for_dups=False for strict backward-compatibility? It's likely people use this function in other places where speed is important.