Re: C++ wrapper

["E. Robert Tisdale" <edwin at netwood dot net>]

Brian Gough <bjg at network-theory dot co dot uk> wrote:

> Ivo Kwee writes:
> 
> > I am thinking to start coding up a simple (?) C++ wrapper
> > providing operator overloading etc.
> > Why has no one started this yet? 
> 
> Lack of resources, mainly.  There is also the question
> of whether it is better to spend your time wrapping a C library,
> or writing a new C++ library from scratch --
> taking full advantage of the features of the language.
> (I think there was an earlier thread on the mailing list
>  which discussed this somewhere).

No.
I don't think that there is much to be gained
by reimplementing the GSL in C++.
The C++ "wrapper" around the ANSI C implementation
can be defined as "inline" so it won't cost anything.

> > Anyway, I would be OK to code something up
> > but I need some ready established interface specification.
> 
> My personal opinion:
> Rogue Wave's Math.h++ is an established commercial API.
> I think that it is
> the main commercial C++ numerical library on the market.
> I wouldn't make great claims for its design,
> but they have continued to sell it for a long time --
> so there must be some demand for that sort of thing.
> It is worth looking at, if nothing else,
> from that point of view.

This API is the property of Rogue Wave.
It probably can't be a standard API.
The proposed SVMT API standard was inspired, in part,
by the Roge Wave API but it is more up-to-date and avoids most
of the more obvious the difficulties with the Rogue Wave API.

> I once started doing something like that, a long time ago,
> which you can see here:
> 
>	http://www.network-theory.clara.co.uk/gslrw.tar.gz

I get garbage when I click on this URL.