Pytorch vectors with empty dimensions
I noticed that some vectors in pytorch have empty dimensions like a=torch.randn(1) has size (1L,). What are these types of vectors called and why are they missing the second dimension? I'm on OSX and Ubuntu - not sure if that makes a difference.

Example:

&gt;&gt;&gt; import torch
&gt;&gt;&gt; a=torch.randn(1)
&gt;&gt;&gt; a

 2.1358
[torch.FloatTensor of size 1]

&gt;&gt;&gt; a.size()
(1L,)
&gt;&gt;&gt; a=torch.randn(1).size()
&gt;&gt;&gt; a
(1L,)


It is not a pytorch specific. This convention is followed in python as well. Let a vector of size (5,) and a matrix of size (5,1) is different. Although they have the same number of elements.

&gt;&gt;&gt; import numpy as np
&gt;&gt;&gt; a=np.random.rand(5)
&gt;&gt;&gt; a.shape
&gt;&gt;&gt; (5,)

&gt;&gt;&gt; b=np.random.rand(5,1)
&gt;&gt;&gt; (5,1)

