Hi, thank you for your great work!
In the following snippet:
a = pd_to_np(a)
out = np.empty_like(a)
after converting a pandas object to a NumPy array, the shape and dtype of a are already known and reliable. While np.empty_like(a) is valid and convenient, it incurs minor overhead due to internal type-checking and metadata copying.
A faster and equally correct alternative is:
out = np.empty(a.shape, dtype=a.dtype)
This avoids unnecessary introspection and speeds up array initialization, particularly in performance-critical loops or batch processing routines.