What is the relation to CategoricalArrays?

[davidanthoff]

https://github.com/JuliaData/CategoricalArrays.jl

Do they both try to do the same thing, i.e. replace PooledDataArray?

cc @nalimilan.

[JeffBezanson]

A PooledArray behaves exactly like a normal array, with no behavior related to categorical variables or missing data. The pooled representation is only for memory efficiency and nothing else. The current implementation also assumes the element type has a total order, to allow a fast sortperm.

If the categorical value code can be factored out of CategoricalArrays, then it's possible this package could be merged with its array type.

[xiaodaigh]

@JeffBezanson does that mean that PooledArray does not support Nulls.Null?

[nalimilan]

@xiaodaigh PooledArrays shouldn't need to do anything special to support null, it can work just like any other value. Do you have a use case in mind?

[bkamins]

can this be closed?