Re: [boost] A possible GSOC 2011 proposal idea

Subject: Re: [boost] A possible GSOC 2011 proposal idea
From: Dave Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-03-22 00:35:06

At Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:12:24 +0100,
Mathias Gaunard wrote:
> 
> On 21/03/2011 18:45, Dave Abrahams wrote:
> 
> > Typically what you do with a generic library is that you write generic
> > algorithms for arbitrary datatypes and then specialize them to
> > dispatch to LAPACK when the types can be handled directly.  That way
> > you can still get a reasonably-performant matrix-of-matrices or
> > matrix-of-rationals and get screamin'-hot performance for floats and
> > doubles.
> 
> From my experience I found that when efficiency is one of the main
> cocners, it often worked better the other way around: write the
> algorithm optimally, and then see how you can generalize it.

Well naturally; the generic programming process *starts* with multiple
optimal non-general implementations, and lifts them repeatedly to
higher levels of abstraction...
[http://www.generic-programming.org/about/intro/lifting.php]

> also, writing multiple implementations requires time, which is
> somewhat restricted during a GSoC.

...but as the generic programmer, you don't have to write them
yourself; you generally look around and find examples that people
smarter than you have written.

Of course, that takes time too :-)

-- 
Dave Abrahams
BoostPro Computing
http://www.boostpro.com