[SciPy-dev] Scikits for optimization ?

[Michael McNeil Forbes]

> I'm not a pro here, so I'll follow the proposal as soon as it is  
> ready ;)

Don't mistake me for a pro either!-)  I would just like to see a  
clean interface so it is easy to switch optimizers.  Please put any  
ideas you have on the wiki.  When we get a fairly complete proposal,  
we can bring it to the attention of the mailing list to be for comments.

> That would be indeed a good idea, I have myself my own naming  
> convention for parameters (x0 or start_point ?, ...)

I think definitely x0 on this one.  (Shorter, language agnostic,  
pretty ubiquitous in the current algorithms).

> While I agree that optimization must stay in scipy, my point of  
> view is similar to Matlab's : some simple, ready-to-go functions  
> for optimization (fmin, leastsqr, ...) in the core, and an  
> additional toolbox with more flexibility, ... Otherwise, it could  
> turn into a mess?

Maybe.  If it is carefully organized and documented, however, I don't  
think it has to be a mess.

Michael.