Re: [boost] [math] calculate derivative automatically.

Subject: Re: [boost] [math] calculate derivative automatically.
From: Bruno Lalande (bruno.lalande_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-03-12 07:43:14

> Speaking for myself (and myself only) from now on,  I didn't bother replying
> because it seems to me that you are simply misguided.   As someone said, it
> is technically feasible.  Almost anything is.  But that doesn't mean it
> should be done (esp. bearing in mind the cost of developing a good solution
> to your problem).

I personally signaled my interest for something much more general than
only derivatives. But as Dongfei's goal seems to be focused in that
direction, I didn't want to disturb him further from it. If I want
more, I can always do it by myself.

About the possibility of using Maple or any other tool: of course,
that's what any programmer would do. Like I said, the interest of a
compile-time simplifier appears when you have some compile-time
integral values that you don't know in advance in your expression. Of
course you can specialize for N=1, N=2, etc... until N is too big for
the expression to be simplifiable. It might also be "periodically
simplifiable" (for example for N being a factor of some value), in
which case specialization can still do the trick, I agree. But a more
general tool can be handy as well. It's just horribly hard to do,
never denied that.

Regards
Bruno