title: Best data structure to use in python to store a 3 dimensional cube of named data
body: <p>I would like some feedback on my choice of data structure. I have a 2D X-Y grid of current values for a specific voltage value. I have several voltage steps and have organized the data into a cube of X-Y-Voltage. I illustrated the axes here: <a href="http://imgur.com/FVbluwB" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/FVbluwB</a>.</p>
  
  <p>I currently use numpy arrays in python dictionaries for the different kind of transistors I am sweeping. I'm not sure if this is the best way to do this. I've looked at Pandas, but am also not sure if this is a good job for Pandas. Was hoping someone could help me out, so I could learn to be pythonic! The code to generate some test data and the end structure is below.</p>
  
  <p>Thank you! </p>
  
  <pre><code>import numpy as np
  
  #make test data
  
  test__transistor_data0 = {"SNMOS":np.random.randn(3,256,256),"SPMOS":np.random.randn(4,256,256), "WPMOS":np.random.randn(6,256,256),"WNMOS":np.random.randn(6,256,256)}
  test__transistor_data1 = {"SNMOS":np.random.randn(3,256,256), "SPMOS":np.random.randn(4,256,256), "WPMOS":np.random.randn(6,256,256), "WNMOS":np.random.randn(6,256,256)}
  test__transistor_data2 = {"SNMOS":np.random.randn(3,256,256), "SPMOS":np.random.randn(4,256,256), "WPMOS":np.random.randn(6,256,256), "WNMOS":np.random.randn(6,256,256)}
  test__transistor_data3 = {"SNMOS":np.random.randn(3,256,256), "SPMOS":np.random.randn(4,256,256), "WPMOS":np.random.randn(6,256,256), "WNMOS":np.random.randn(6,256,256)}
  
  
  quadrant_data = {"ne":test__transistor_data0,"nw":test__transistor_data1,"sw":test__transistor_data2,"se":test__transistor_data3} 
  </code></pre>