matrix algebra

[Carl Banks]

On Sep 22, 4:02 am, Al Kabaila <akaba... at pcug.org.au> wrote:
> 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)?

I wouldn't since I do pretty advanced stuff and I'm happy to use numpy
as-is, but I suspect a lot of people would find a convenient basic
matrix library useful.


> 2. What other matrix operations would be required for your area of interest?

Your short list covers most of the important stuff.

Graphics and simulation make use of rigid transformations a lot
(composition of rotations and stuff).  It's pretty straightforward and
specialized so I'd give it low priority.

I use linear least squares (psuedoinverse) occasionally for curve-
fitting.


> 3. What other matrix packages, if any, should one include in the wrapper?

Oftentimes libraries like this have a dumb implementation, that uses
only the basic machinery that ships with every system.  You might
consider such an implementation of your API that uses only Python
lists or arrays.

One matrix API that is pretty irritating is Blender's; in fact
whenever I write Blender plugins I usually do all the dirty work with
numpy.



Carl Banks