[boost] [odeint] GSoC Summary and Feedback request

Subject: [boost] [odeint] GSoC Summary and Feedback request
From: Mario Mulansky (mario.mulansky_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-08-22 14:01:29

Hi,

this is a summary of the progress of the odeint-library during this years  
GSoC. First of all I would like to thank Andrew for mentoring this project  
and also for the many fruitful comments and hints he gave during the past  
months.

The aim of the project was to finalize odeint and prepare it for a boost  
review. This goal has been, more or less, achieved, I think. Although some  
work on docs and maybe some minor usability improvements are to be done we  
think we have reached a state of development ready for a review and we  
might try take this step in the near future.

The puropose of odeint is to provide algorithms to numerically solve  
ordinary differential equations (ODEs) given as initial value problems:  
x'(t) = f(x,t) , x(0) = x0. It is written by Karsten Ahnert and myself.  
Please visit the docs to find out more about the features and abilities of  
odeint:
http://headmyshoulder.github.com/odeint-v2/doc/index.html

During the GSoC project, we switched from a svn branch in the boost  
sandbox to a new git project called odeint-v2:
https://github.com/headmyshoulder/odeint-v2

In terms of code, I have made the following improvements to odeint:

* Implementation and performance tests of a generic Runge-Kutta algorithm.
* Implementation of several algorithms using the generic Runge-Kutta  
scheme (rk4, rk54ck, rk78)
* Redesign of the construction/destruction of temporary states by use of a  
state_wrapper
* Redesign of the resizing functionality by usage of boost::bind
* Redesing of the algebra implementation to now use instances instead of  
static functions.
* Creating mkl_operations to make use of Intel's MKL for optimal  
performance
* major refactorings (e.g. renaming stepper classes)
* Implementation of a Bulirsch-Stoer stepper with dense output
* Improvement of integrate functions so they have consistent behavior
* Adding integrate_times function to allow for observation at user defined  
time points
* Adding unit tests for integrate functions

Additionally, I worked on the documentation:

* Created an overview over all implemented algorithms
* Adding a resizing example to the tutorials section
* Adding a description of the integrate functions
* Adding a brief concept description of steppers, system and observer
* Adding a brief overview on the Algebra/Operations and how they interact

Besides his fruitful input and discussions related to my work presented  
above, Karsten also put quite some effort into odeint during the GSoC  
period, e.g. providing examples and tutorials in the docs section or  
adding multistep and implicit algorithms (adams-bashforth, rosenbrock4).

We are very happy about any feedback on the work done within this GSoC or  
on odeint in general. If you have any further question please feel also  
invited to contact us.

Finally, I want to thank the boost communtity for giving me the  
possibility to take part in this years GSoC as part of the boost  
organization. I have learned a lot during this time and I think odeint  
took a major step forward in terms of design and extent.

Regards,
Mario