code: def isvector_or_scalar(a):
      
      try:
          return a.size and a.ndim-a.shape.count(1) <= 1
      except:
          return False
docs: one-dimensional arrays having shape [N],
      row and column matrices having shape [1 N] and
      [N 1] correspondingly, and their generalizations
      having shape [1 1 ... N ... 1 1 1].
      Scalars have shape [1 1 ... 1].
      Empty arrays dont count