range and algorithm-related stuff

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

bearophile wrote:
> Andrei Alexandrescu:
>> I like frequency a lot, would be very useful for my NLP code
>> (although probably I'd replace it with counts and let the user
>> normalize).
> 
> It doesn't perform a normalization (I can add to it few more
> functionalities can be added, but not this one), I'll improve its
> documentation.

Oh, it's the name that threw me off. I automatically assumed that 
"frequency" is normalized counts.

> Several of my lazy functions are inspired by: 
> http://docs.python.org/library/itertools.html
> 
> I don't like to show people programs that require my large dlibs to
> run, so I hope 80-90+% of my dlibs will be obsolete in D2.
> 
> D2 supports immutable data structures, so the D Std lib may gain some
> immutable data structures, like finger trees, etc.
> 
> Multi-threading, pure functions, immutable data structures, and lazy
> computations are forms of computation quite different from the usual
> ones done in C. I am sure the current D2 Std lib is using only a
> small part of the potential usages of such programming styles :-) I
> think some of such usages have yet to be invented (when C++
> developers have added templates to C++ surely they didn't know all
> the weird and creative usages of them used for example in Blitz++ or
> Boost).
> 
> Seeing the work of Walter, your work here, and the community in this
> newsgroup, and on the other hand seeing how a significant percentage
> of computer science is done in academy, and what it produces, I'd say
> that there's more innovation and creativity here :-) Lot of CS is out
> of the world, not doing useful things, and sometimes not even much
> intelligent. Yet, I know many smart folks working in CS in academy,
> and I think the design of D2 may be improved by some "hard" thinking
> done by that researchers. It's a pity there are so little
> communication between the two groups.
> 
> Bye, bearophile

That's good to read, and a definite departure from your discouragement 
of a few weeks ago. I agree, there are vast areas as of yet unexplored 
in D2, and compile-time introspection will open up even many more. (By 
the way, I figured how to do introspection, I need to discuss details 
with Walter and Sean after which it'll be "a simple matter of 
implementation".)

I agree that run-of-the-mill academic work may not be that good, but 
then there's a lot of run-of-the-mill practitioner work. I'd say our 
work on D2 as of now is not quite up to par with top academic work. The 
communication is mostly due to us doing little to publicize D2. But that 
will improve starting soon.


Andrei