[PYTHON MATRIX-SIG] Integrated Simulation Environment?

[David Ascher]

Hi folks.

I keep working on simulations using NumPy, and I'd like to develop
some tools which make it easier to use.  Here are some random thoughts
on the topic.

1) I'd like to have controlled persistency.  For example, I would like
   to have "project files" which maintain a state accross invocations,
   including but not restricted to:
	- configurable all/none/chosen intermediate variables
	- function definitions in the interpreter
	- graphs of data (using PIL or OpenGL or whatever else comes
          along)

2) I need "smart simulation objects", which incorporate notions like
   labeled, unit-ful, range-ful axes, a notion of dependency between
   objects (so that if I change the definition of "input_set", then all
   of the relevant dependencies can be updated).

3) I need graphing capabilities.  This is pretty obvious, so I'll just
   say that if 2) above is implemented, some parts of this are easy --
   labeling the axes in the correct units, etc., should be trivial.

I have some old (outdated) preliminary work addressing the "axis" part
of 2), and I know that Konrad has thought about that issue as well, 
both in terms of physical quantities and of labeled axes.  I keep 
thinking about 3), but I've been waiting for some settling on the
graphics front.  I haven't thought hard about 1) much at all, but I know
from the discussions on this list that some have played with
pickle/dump, which would clearly be at the core of that functionality.

These tools are what I think will make Python have a chance when
compared to Matlab, S+, etc.  I'll be working on them for my own good,
but I was wondering if others were thinking along the same lines.

--david


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