Hi.
> Luc suggested that I move this discussion to the list. Luc posed the
> question:
>
> "I don't understand how you intend to separate the API.
> Would that mean users would always have to know beforehand the shape of the
> matrix they use and manage both the matrix, the data store and the operators
> in sync ?"
>
> I think my longwinded report was not as clear as it should have been. I want
> to simplify the RealMatrix interface and implementing classes. In my mind's
> eye, I see the real matrix interface as describing the shape of the data,
> holding that data and giving the user an indexing scheme to get at an
> element.
>
> My concern with the current interface is that if different shapes of
> matrices are allowed (Diagonal, Symmetric, Triangular, Banded) the matrix
> manipulation routines (add, subtract, mult, ...) become very complicated.
>
> In my proposal, I argue that we might have another class, say
> MatrixOperations.
>
> It would have routines for Mutlitplication that depend on type. A small
> subset of the interface might look like:
>
> public interface MatrixOpsIface{
> public SymmetricMatrix selfTimesTranspose( SymmetricMatrix sm );
> public SymmetricMatrix selfTimesTranspose( GeneralMatrix sm );
> public SymmetricMatrix sandwichProduct( SymmetricMatrix sm,
> GeneralMatrix gm);
> public SymmetricMatrix sandwichProduct( SymmetricMatrix sm,
> SymmericMatrix sm2);
> public SymmetricMatrix sandwichProduct( SymmetricMatrix sm,
> SymmetricMatrix gm);
> public GeneralMatrix multipy( DiagonalMatrix dm, GeneralMatrix gm);
> public GeneralMatrix multiply( SymmetricMatrix sm, GeneralMatrix gm);
> public DiagonalMatrix multiply( DiagonalMatrix dm, DiagonalMatrix dm);
> }
>
> The benefit of doing this would be that you could write highly optimized
> multiplication routines dependent on the shape of the matrices. All of the
> complexity would be handled by the compiler. The user would simply
> instantiate the operations object (maybe these could be static methods), and
> call multiply. Adding a new matrix shape would be require an two check ins,
> the code for the new matrix as well as a new set of methods for handling
> multiplication, etc, with the other types.
The idea of separating the algorithms from the storage layout sounds nice
but why would a class implementing "MatrixOpsIface" be more performant, or
simpler, than adding specialized "mutliply" methods within the RealMatrix
implementations themselves?
E.g.
---CUT---
public class Array2DRowRealMatrix {
public Array2DRowRealMatrix multiply(Array2DRowRealMatrix m) { /* ... */ }
public Array2DRowRealMatrix multiply(DiagonalRealMatrix m) { /* ... */ }
/* ... */
}
---CUT---
Also, there seems to be the problem of exposing the internals (storage
layout) so that the implementations of "MatrixOpsIface" can actually make
use of them. This would break encapsulation: The layout would becomes part
of the interface.
Still, publicizing the operators might be interesting. With generics:
---CUT---
interface Multiply<M extends RealMatrix,
O extends RealMatrix> {
public O multiply(M m);
}
---CUT---
Hence, we advertise which operations are type-optimized:
---CUT---
public class Array2DRowRealMatrix
implements Multiply<Array2DRowRealMatrix, Array2DRowRealMatrix>,
Multiply<Array2DRowRealMatrix, DiagonalRealMatrix> {
// ...
}
Sorry, if this is all besides the point; without a concrete example, it's
difficult to figure what must be improved.
Also, you could have a look at
http://www.ojalgo.org
Best,
Gilles
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