[boost] Gauging interest in new library re: multiscale/multigranular containers

Subject: [boost] Gauging interest in new library re: multiscale/multigranular containers
From: nathaniel_at_[hidden]
Date: 2011-06-04 16:55:50

Hi:  I would like to submit a library which would allow functionality 
related to scale and granularity to be performed on STL-like containers.  
Until recently I was in a doctoral program specializing in the philosophy 
of science, and I am especially interested in multiscale data modeling and 
its applications to e.g. GUI design, code generation, decision procedures, 
and DSL implementation.  For example, one of my projects involves a DSL 
implemented through multiscale graphs in lieu of conventional syntax trees. 
 I used to study at Buffalo, which houses the National Center for 
Ontological Research -- headed by the quite broad-ranging scholar Barry 
Smith -- and has done pioneering work in biomedical ontology and also in 
ontological models related to complex or "vague" aggregative structures.  
In these structures collections of objects of some base type T can be 
defined as aggregates but with varying degrees of looseness or "individual 
coherence"; and this aggregation can be iterated to produce multiscaled 
structures which can be queried or represented at different granularities.  
There are a number of analytic procedures which can be implemented on such 
structures, some overlapping with graph theoretic or statistical methods.  
These structures also possess alot of internal structure above and beyond 
their underlying list of values, so they are suited to memory-optimized C++ 
code rather than higher-level languages like Java.  However, I am not aware 
of generic libraries which really incorporate these kind of data structures 
and their analysis in a systematic way, although I have come across 
non-template libraries which implement some similar features.  What I 
propose is a library which could be used in a fashion similar to 
std::vector or std::set but which support additional functions along the 
lines of, e.g., building multigraphs out of T-type nodes; partitions of 
T-sets with functions to define or measure e.g. intrapartition relevance; 
defining (or extending) a scale metric on T-objects, T-sets, T-arrays, or 
other "T- data structures" and using it for rescaling, scale-filter, and 
other scale-related transformations; defining iterators or "walks" on 
T-collections which take scale and granularity into account; etc.  In a 
number of cases the algorithms for these kinds of operations have been 
described in theoretical form or even already implemented in languages like 
Scheme.

I believe that this project is also well-suited to carry over into C++0x, 
because new features proposed there (such as Concepts, which I know keep 
moving in and out of the specification) have potential to make this library 
increasingly generic or "fine-tuneable"; for example, users should be able 
to specify custom allocators not only for T's but for aggregates or 
connectors between T's which might be recognized as part of the inner 
structure of a T-collection.

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.