[SciPy-dev] the scipy mission, include finite element solver

[Robert Kern]

On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 15:56, Gael Varoquaux
<gael.varoquaux at normalesup.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 01:42:31PM -0700, Ondrej Certik wrote:
>> There needs to be something, that people can take and customize to
>> create their own all in one solutions, e.g. for PDE, or for biology,
>> for mathematics (that is Sage) or I don't know what.
>> Too bad I need to sleep some time, otherwise I'd be working on this
>> nonstop to make this happen.
>
> I am with you here (but not working on it :( ).
>
> I didn't add anything to the discussion on PDE's, but all the time during
> this discussion I had in mind the interface nightmare problem: I don't
> care which PDE solver I use, if it has an interface I know. So we need a
> package to implement a base interface, that I can depend on. The solver
> behind this interface might not be performant, it is just there as a
> back. Scipy does seem a natural slot for such code.

I conjecture, though, that the interface is the critical
differentiator (ahem, no pun intended) between implementations.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless
enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as
though it had an underlying truth."
  -- Umberto Eco