Binding to the GNU Scientific Library

Binding to the GNU Scientific Library

[Jerry]

Is there an Ada binding to GSL, the GNU Scientific Library? The most
recent posting on this list about this was 4.5 years ago and didn't get
a reply, and the GLS site http://www.gnu.org/software/gsl/ doesn't list
Ada, so I'm guessing that the answer is "no."

Jerry

Re: Binding to the GNU Scientific Library

[Dr. Adrian Wrigley]

On Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:24:49 -0800, Jerry wrote:

> Is there an Ada binding to GSL, the GNU Scientific Library? The most
> recent posting on this list about this was 4.5 years ago and didn't get
> a reply, and the GLS site http://www.gnu.org/software/gsl/ doesn't list
> Ada, so I'm guessing that the answer is "no."

I think the answer is "no" too.  But I have used bits of GSL in the
past, and I think that a (thick?) binding would be really useful.
I have just used thin binding to the two or three functions required.

And the topic impinges on the question of Ada for scientific programming
that was discussed here a few months back.  Lack of efficient library
access is a major barrier to use in this application class.
So while there isn't currently much demand for a binding, it'd be
a great thing to have to enhance the appeal of the language!
If you do end up binding some parts of GSL, perhaps you would
consider releasing it under a free license?  Even if it was
just a part of the library that was useful to you, it's likely
others would find that useful too - and might even contribute!

Good luck!
--
Adrian

Re: Binding to the GNU Scientific Library

[brian.b.mcguinness]

Dr. Adrian Wrigley wrote:
...
> And the topic impinges on the question of Ada for scientific programming
> that was discussed here a few months back.  Lack of efficient library
> access is a major barrier to use in this application class.

It seems to me that instead of having a binding to the library it would
be better to translate  the library into Ada and make it a generic
package for floating point types.  That would provide more flexibility,
and would probably be more efficient that having to translate back and
forth between Ada and C floating point numbers.

--- Brian

Re: Binding to the GNU Scientific Library

[Jeffrey Creem]

brian.b.mcguinness@lmco.com wrote:
> Dr. Adrian Wrigley wrote:
> ...
> 
>>And the topic impinges on the question of Ada for scientific programming
>>that was discussed here a few months back.  Lack of efficient library
>>access is a major barrier to use in this application class.
> 
> 
> It seems to me that instead of having a binding to the library it would
> be better to translate  the library into Ada and make it a generic
> package for floating point types.  That would provide more flexibility,
> and would probably be more efficient that having to translate back and
> forth between Ada and C floating point numbers.
> 
> --- Brian
> 

While it might be nice no have a generic Ada library like this (or even 
a C/C++ one with a license that would be useable by people not 
developing free software - GSL does not fall into that category) it does 
not currently exist so a binding is not a bad thing.

Re: Binding to the GNU Scientific Library

[Dr. Adrian Wrigley]

On Fri, 03 Nov 2006 05:09:49 -0800, brian.b.mcguinness wrote:

> 
> Dr. Adrian Wrigley wrote:
> ...
>> And the topic impinges on the question of Ada for scientific programming
>> that was discussed here a few months back.  Lack of efficient library
>> access is a major barrier to use in this application class.
> 
> It seems to me that instead of having a binding to the library it would
> be better to translate  the library into Ada and make it a generic
> package for floating point types.  That would provide more flexibility,
> and would probably be more efficient that having to translate back and
> forth between Ada and C floating point numbers.

Assuming a given level of effort, the benefit would be greater to
bind Ada to an existing (debugged) library than to create one
from scratch.  The time saved could be devoted to improving
the library, benefiting all users.  Or developing your application.
GSL is rather extensive now, and the more it is optimised and extended,
the better.

A well designed library would avoid spending time converting
data formats on the interfaces.  But making this accessible by
generics is a bit tricky because you need to switch beween the
different implementations according to precision, I think.
--
Adrian