matrix algebra

[Tim Leslie]

On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 6:02 PM, Al Kabaila <akabaila at pcug.org.au> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> My OS is Linux (openSUSE 10.3) and my interest in retirement is Python
> applications to Structural Analysis of  Civil Engineering structures,
> currently in 2 dimensions only (under GPL). Modern Structural Analysis is
> highly matrix oriented, but requires only a few basic matrix operations,
> namely matrix creation, transposition, multiplication, invertion and
> linear equation solution. For stability analysis one would require
> Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors. In 3 dimensions, additionally highly
> desirable would be vector algebra. The packages do have all these
> functions, but currently only the basic functions are in the wrapper.
>
> There are several packages for matrix algebra. I tried Numeric, numpy and
> numarray. All three are very good, but each uses different syntax. Not a
> good thing for teaching...  So I wrote a little python wrapper (under GPL)
> to unify all packages with the same simple and transparent syntax.

There is no need for a wrapper. Both numarray and Numeric have been
deprecated in favour of numpy, so numpy is the only one you need to
use. Numpy should have all the tools you need. If you find something
missing, there's a good chance it's included in scipy (which  is built
on top of numpy). For full details see www.scipy.org.

Cheers,

Tim

> Currently it deals with the Numeric, numpy and numarray and covers creation
> of zero filled matrices, transposition, matrix multiplication, solution of
> equations and inversion.
>
> This is a very active newsgroup that incudes such giants as Frederik Lundh
> and countless others. I wonder:
>
> 1. Is there any interest in matrix algebra "for the masses" (I mean interest
> in a wrapper for a subset of functions of the packages with a unified
> simple syntax)?
> 2. What other matrix operations would be required for your area of interest?
> 3. What other matrix packages, if any, should one include in the wrapper?
>
> A copy of the wrapper is stored in a small, public svn repository. If you
> would like to download it, please contact me by email at. Of course, if
> there is interest, I would be delighted to upload it to a generally
> accessible repository.  Finally, if this is a re-invention of the wheel
> (which it may well be), would you kindly let me know?
>
> akabaila [at] pcug [dot] org [dot] au.
>
> I would be very happy to send you the checkout instructions, but I should
> discuss that with the people who run the repository. My home page that I
> quote with my signature is not a repository nor does it have the current
> programs.
>
> OldAl.
>
> --
> Al Kabaila (Dr)
> http://akabaila.pcug.org.au/StructuralAnalysis
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>