Andrew - Thanks for bringing Matrixy and parrot-linear-algebra to our attention. You've given me a couple of ideas that PDL folks might be interested in:
1. Use Matrixy to parse Matlab/Octave code into some sort of abstract tree, with which we could generate PDL code. This would allow folks with legacy Matlab code to hit the ground running with PDL. 2. Interface Matrixy and PDL so that (1) data type conversion for matrices is fast and cheap and (2) calling functions from one language that are written in the other is easy. 3. Implement PDL::PP in in Parrot. #1 sounds like a pain but would help a lot with PDL evangelism. I suspect you are not much interested in doing this yourself. #2 is probably the most plausible option. You would likely get some interest if you could explain to us the data structures used in Matrixy, or tell us where to read more. #3 is the Proper Parrot solution to interfacing these two languages. I know of no language that interfaces multidimensional data better than PDL::PP. (Take that with a grain of salt: I'm not a very multilingual programmer.) An implementation would most likely involve a C-compiler on the backend, though I know that's somewhat against the philosophy of Parrot. Anyway, if we could find a way to port PDL::PP to Parrot, then Parrot would be able to provide an incredibly powerful infrastructure for numerical processing to any language written using Parrot. If PDL::PP were properly implemented, Matrixy would be able to compete with Matlab in terms of speed. I am interested in this, but it is a huge undertaking and I hope to write my thesis and graduate some time in the next two years.... A great deal of PDL development energy at the moment focuses on restructuring how PDL is packaged and distributed. Thus, at the moment, you may not get much traction from the PDL folks getting any of these ideas off the ground. From your end, I presume your energy is directed at Matrixy, not at interfacing Matrixy with PDL. Nonetheless, cross-talk could be very fruitful. Do you think you could give us some information per #2? Thanks! David
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