Re: The Ada Scalar, Vector, Matrix and Tensor arithmetic library?

[dvdeug@x8b4e53cd.dhcp.okstate.edu (David Starner)]

On Sun, 05 Dec 1999 03:59:16 +0000, E. Robert Tisdale <edwin@netwood.net> wrote:
>David Starner wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 04 Dec 1999 21:59:13 +0000,
>> E. Robert Tisdale <edwin@netwood.net> wrote:
>>
>> > No one actually cares how matrix libraries are implemented
>> > except that the implementation should be optimized
>> > appropriately for the target platform and problem domain.
>>
>> Sure, but the way of doing that for Ada
>> is most likely not a wrapper around a C++ library.
>> It's more likely to be use inline generics.
>
>Who said anything about a C++ library?
Your first message mentioned an Ada binding to a C++ library.

>The library might be implemented in Ada, Fortran, C, assembler
>or any combination of programming languages.
>All Ada applications programmers care about
>is what they should write to access the library.
No. I develop programs. I care about
* The license of the library I'm linking to
* The size of the program
* The number of libraries the users will need
* If the users will already have them
* The compilers users will need
* How portable it is

For example, I probably wouldn't use a multiple precision library 
written in Caml, that's 2/3 MB. Portability issues, the users would 
need OCaml, the size, etc. I would use libgmp, even if it was 
slower and the interface was much worse.

>But it is a very bad way to get a standard API.
>It's better to design an API that liberates library developers
>to implement the library as they see fit.

I disagree - it's better to design an API that lets programers
do what they need, and lets library developers make a efficent
implementation, even if they don't have much choice in how to
do it. For example, the C function memcpy has a decent interface,
but there is one way to implement it. I fail to see how changing
that would improve memcpy.

>> There is no reason you can't take any API
>> and design a implementation around it.
>
>Sure you can if you have unlimited resources
>and don't care about performance.
>But most programmers who write numerical applications
>expect their code to run as fast and efficiently as possible.

That's a non-sequitor. If an API for a numeric library is 
commonly used, it will be that for an efficent library. 
Hence, there will be a way to write to that API efficently.

-- 
David Starner - dstarner98@aasaa.ofe.org
I see no trend at all, except toward women playing mean and ugly 
sociopaths who are good at killing and who enjoy dark powers. Maybe 
it's just my friends?
	-- Dr. Kromm, on who plays what type of character in RPGs