On 3/6/2011 3:59 PM, Leandro Hermida wrote: > > On Sun, Mar 6, 2011 at 5:36 PM, Chris Marshall<[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi Leandro- >> >> I would like to see PDL more widely available >> and used. To that end we've been working to >> improve the portability of PDL across the major >> perl platforms: unix/linux/*bsd, macosx, win32 >> and cygwin. The goal would be 1-click install >> of PDL on any of those platforms. >> > > Totally agree here, PDL should be as easy to install as possible on any > major platform even with all the extra options. I think many Python > projects currently make this easier for beginners than Perl but there is no > reason with Perl and all of the packaging and installation capabilities that > it can't be just as easy if not easier.
Actually, where python/numpy have the advantage seems to be mostly various sources of pre-rolled installations so users don't actually do or know anything about building/installing python/numpy... >> If I had to pick one feature that would help >> new PDL users, it would be adding matplotlib >> support to PDL. It should be possible to tie >> it in by calling through python from the perl. >> > > High-quality, full featured plotting library integration is essential to > increase PDL's attractiveness. matplotlib uses Anti-Grain > http://www.antigrain.com/ as the C++ backend which could be used to create a > Perl equivalent plotting library. The main benefit of matplotlib is that it is *matlab* plotting. The shortest learning curve for a new platform is no curve at all... > There are also a lot of other existing plotting libraries that might already > have Perl bindings or could fairly easily be integrated. Gnuplot (the > plotting engine behind Octave) for example would probably be a good choice. We're working on addressing the issues of external dependencies for PDL functionality. Going forward, I would like to see any dependencies support all PDL/perl platforms. > Also I think PDL developers have talked about it before, but a really > awesome improvement would be to provide a wxPerl IDE for PDL with integrated > and embedded plotting. Something a la the Padre project and there is a lot > of knowledge from that camp on how to get everything going, like windows, > menus, and interactive shell I think all that has pretty much been already > done by the Padre guys and could be copied directly. Actually, work is proceeding on several fronts: (1) making a PDL shell plugin for Padre (2) providing standard cross-platform graphics (2D and 3D) (3) utilizing OpenGL to enhance portability >> Of course improved documentation, tutorial >> information, start-up guides... help as well. >> > Yes I totally agree, I also think it's vital to increase awareness outside > of the astrophysics community and into the scientific and quantitative > finance communities (they both use the same tools). So many amazing things > are happening within the Perl ecosystem over the past few years (the Moose > OO system just to name one of the big ones - yes it's better than Python OO) > that will give science/finance users who choose PDL access to CPAN which I > believe is such an advantage. We're always looking for help with development and documentation! An extremely useful starter project to help PDL would be for a new user to document some index/cross-ref terms for use in the help/apropos system. E.g., does PDL have a routine for inversion of matrices? HINT: Use the pdl2 shell and its help and apropos commands. Cheers, Chris >> --Chris >> >> >> On 3/6/2011 10:15 AM, Leandro Hermida wrote: >> >>> Hi PDL group, >>> >>> I recently wrote a blog post about Perl and PDL in the areas of scientific >>> and financial computing and to start discussion about what I've seen in my >>> field (scientific computing), that for no reason most people in these >>> fields >>> don't seem to know (or consider) that the Perl/PDL/CPAN stack is perfectly >>> suited for such work and a powerful if not better competitor to >>> Python/NumPy/SciPy/matplotlib stack, MATLAB, Octave, or R. >>> >>> If you are interested in reading and commenting and most of all correcting >>> me please see it here: >>> >>> http://blogs.perl.org/users/lhermida/2011/03/hi-everyone-as-a-bioinformatician.html >>> >>> I think that awareness of PDL needs to be raised significantly among these >>> communities. >>> >>> best, >>> Leandro >>> >> > > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1435/3485 - Release Date: 03/06/11 _______________________________________________ Perldl mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/mailman/listinfo/perldl
