NumPy array initialization (fill with identical values)

NumPy 1.8 introduced np.full(), which is a more direct method than empty() followed by fill() for creating an array filled with a certain value:

>>> np.full((3, 5), 7)
array([[ 7.,  7.,  7.,  7.,  7.],
       [ 7.,  7.,  7.,  7.,  7.],
       [ 7.,  7.,  7.,  7.,  7.]])

>>> np.full((3, 5), 7, dtype=int)
array([[7, 7, 7, 7, 7],
       [7, 7, 7, 7, 7],
       [7, 7, 7, 7, 7]])

This is arguably the way of creating an array filled with certain values, because it explicitly describes what is being achieved (and it can in principle be very efficient since it performs a very specific task).