Thank you Jason, I'll look into the mechanics module and report back on 
this thread soon.

On Saturday, March 9, 2013 3:55:02 AM UTC+5:30, Jason Moore wrote:
>
> Prasoon,
>
> In the mechanics module we've implemented the elements of vector calculus 
> needed to do classical mechanics. This is a subset of what vector calculus 
> is and it is also not necessarily written in a general form. We have a 
> Vector class but it is limited to 3 dimensions and tied to the concept of a 
> reference frame. If a vector calculus module existed we could potentially 
> modify mechanics to use that functionality. So, understanding the mechanics 
> module will give you a good example of one use case for a vector calculus 
> module, but it may only give some ideas about how to implement a generic 
> vector calculus module.
>
> Jason
> moorepants.info
> +01 530-601-9791
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 10:24 AM, Prasoon Shukla 
> <[email protected]<javascript:>
> > wrote:
>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I was going through the project ideas for GSoC 2013 and I saw an entry 
>> for implementation of vector calculus. As I have taken a semester's worth 
>> of vector calculus, this looked like something I could do.
>>
>> I am not saying that I'll be going with this proposal a 100%, but I may.
>>
>> Anyway, here are some of the questions that I have.
>>
>> Q. Has it already been implemeneted to some extent?
>>
>> I began with grep for keywords such as curl, divergence etc. Barely a few 
>> lines showed up. Then, I tried a google search and that led me to the 
>> mechanics module. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the mechanics 
>> module. Therefore, I decided that it was best to ask the community about 
>> it. So, has vector calculus been implemented anywahere *inside* the 
>> mechanics module? That seems quite unlikely to me (because of the grep), 
>> still, I'm just checking whether anyone else has done some wrok on this 
>> that isn't on master.
>>
>> Now, assuming that there is no implementation of this yet, I have the 
>> following questions:
>>
>> Q. In case I decide to make my GSoC proposal for the addition of this new 
>> module, what functionality is expected from this new component other than 
>> the obvious?
>>
>> Obviously, we would have to support general coordinate systems, 
>> tranformations, the usual operations for elements belonging to these vector 
>> fields and vector operations over scalar fields(curl, div on vectors, 
>> laplacian etc on scalars), integration over paths, surfaces and volumes, 
>> the usual theorems of vector calculus (Gauss, Stokes), support for vector 
>> functions etc.
>>
>> There is no order/priority to this list. These are just the few things 
>> that came off the top of my mind. Now, other than this relatively obvious 
>> functionality, what are the other important things that we might have a 
>> relation with this module?
>>
>> As an example, we can have the solution of the PDE for the magnetic 
>> vector potential. This would depend both on the new vector calculus module 
>> (to get the PDEs to solve) as well as on the PDE solvers (to get the 
>> solution of PDEs).
>>
>> So, basically, I'm looking in both directions here. If the funcionality 
>> of some other part of SymPy increases because of this new module, then it's 
>> well and good. But, on the other hand, we are going to have dependencies on 
>> many other components as well (multiple integration is an example). So, if 
>> someone can point out some of these dependencies that might pose a problem 
>> later on, that would be helpful.
>>
>> Also, as I asked before, what might be some of the non-obvious things 
>> that a user might require? I can't think of any such thing right now but it 
>> is certainly worth a look.
>>
>> Q. Would this project be big enough for a summer?
>>
>> My personal thought on this is yes. Though I have only vaguely considered 
>> the *how* yet - I am focussing more on the *what* for now -  still, I think 
>> that a well made VectorCalculus module may require quite a bit of work.
>> If this much work is enough for a summer, well and good. If not, then 
>> what more can be added to this project so as to make it big enough for a 
>> summer's worth of coding?
>>
>> These are just some of questions that occur to me as of yet. Please state 
>> your opinions/suggestions/answers below. Once I am clear on these points, 
>> then, I can move ahead with figuring out a sketch for the implementation.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Prasoon Shukla
>>
>> -- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>> "sympy" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>> email to [email protected] <javascript:>.
>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] <javascript:>
>> .
>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sympy?hl=en.
>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>>  
>>  
>>
>
>

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"sympy" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sympy?hl=en.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.


Reply via email to