Re: [Boost-users] [Probability] interest in probability/likelihood library

From: Thorsten Ottosen (thorsten.ottosen_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-05-03 03:40:09

Brook Milligan skrev:
> This note is to announce the release of a library for handling
> probability and likelihood quantities, together with their logarithms,
> in a consistent and (when desired) transparent manner.

> If a native floating point type is used for probabilities and
> likelihoods, 

You should probably define those terms in the documentation.

> The purpose of this library is to encapsulate both probability and
> likelihood quantities within an appropriate set of types, while
> simultaneously achieving the following design goals.

> - Incur no runtime cost.  That is, all type manipulations should be
>   performed at compile time.

That does not strike me as quite the same.

> - Ensure that the layout of arrays and structures of probability and
>   likelihood quantities is identical to the corresponding layout for
>   the underlying value type.

Good. But It still needs to be testet if the performance equals that
of normal arrays or matrices of floats.

> Thanks for your input.  I hope this library is close to Boost
> standards and can be improved to the point of being a worthwhile
> inclusion within the set of libraries.

It seems like a good start.

I can only say, that if the runtime performance cost is zero, then
I would find the library very interesting, and I would not hessitate
to use it in my work on Bayesian Networks.

best regards

-Thorsten