Dave Steffen <steffend@glitch.physics.colostate.edu> wrote:
> Paul Beardsley wrote:
>
> > 1. What is the most extensively implemented library for
> > matrix and vector classes at the moment, which uses the STL
> > generic approach?
>
> The best one that I know of is called TNT. Check out
> <http://math.nist.gov/pozo/tnt/> for more info. It's still in beta
> testing, but I'm using parts of it and it works fine. Parts of it
> are implemented directly on top of STL containers, and it has an
> "STL-ish" flavor to it.
I have an indirect comment about the search for a matrix library for
C++, which might affect your decision.
I have been using Roldan Pozo's previous C++ matrix library, called
LAPACK++/MATRIX++, since it first came out a couple years ago. It
still had some design flaws, some bugs, and wasn't template-based, but
that was not so surprising for a beta product. I fixed enough of the
problems to make it useful to me, and sent many bug fixes and
suggestions to Roldan. I figured that over time it would become
better and maybe even become a standard.
Unfortunately that has not been the case. Development ceased after
only a couple of releases, and has now been abandoned completely. It
seems now (though this was not clear at the time) that the library was
never meant to become a reliable, sturdy, supported foundation for
real work (a la LAPACK itself), but rather a vehicle for the author's
experimentation with numerical C++ matrix libraries.
Since LAPACK++/MATRIX++ there has been another matrix package (MV++)
by the same author that was apparently also developed for a while and
then abandoned.
My point is not that experimentation is bad, or that libraries should
outlive their usefulness. But it is important to distinguish an
experimental library from a usable one. And part of the process of
evaluating a library for your own use should be an estimation of the
likelihood that the library will be supported over the longer term. I
will not start using another matrix library until I have that
confidence.
I hope that TNT will be supported over the long term, but I am
sceptical. Does anybody have information whether it will or not?
Michael
-- Michael Haggerty m.haggerty@newton.cam.ac.uk
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