title: Get information about a numpy dtype
body: <p>I'm trying to implement a validity check on a numpy type - specifically, if  <code>np.longdouble</code> is the 80-bit extended precision float - and get its raw byte size (with padding).</p>
  
  <p>Accoring to <a href="https://docs.scipy.org/doc/numpy/reference/generated/numpy.dtype.html#numpy.dtype" rel="nofollow"><code>dtype</code> docs</a>, I can get a whole bunch of information from attributes. But, whichever attribute I check, I get</p>
  
  <pre><code>In [23]: np.longdouble.nbytes
  Out[23]: &lt;attribute 'nbytes' of 'numpy.generic' objects&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>instead of the number.</p>
  
  <p>I can get a whole bunch of information from <code>np.finfo(np.longdouble)</code> but it doesn't include byte size.</p>
  
  <p>Sure, I can create an array of that type and calculate the size or something... but is this really necessary to get information that's not bound to a specific instance?</p>