SciD (Was: Real Close to the Machine: Floating Point in D )

[Lars T. Kyllingstad]

Sean Kelly wrote:
> Walter Bright wrote:
>> Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>>> Actually I seem to remember that "Numerical recipes in C" was widely 
>>> criticized for having incredibly strong restrictions on the published 
>>> code.
>>
>> The license is, from my copy of the 1987 edition:
>>
>> "Although this book and its programs are copyrighted, we specifically 
>> authorize you, the reader of this book, to make one machine-readable 
>> copy of each program for your own use. [...] Distribution of 
>> machine-readable programs (either as copied by you or as purchased) to 
>> any other person is not authorized."
> 
> I'll have to dig my copy out and see if it's any better.  Really, if the 
> code can't even legally be used internally for an application developed 
> by a team of programmers then the book is nearly worthless.


I wouldn't go so far as to call it worthless. It may not be a repository 
of freely usable algorithms, but it is a nice textbook that covers a 
wide range of topics and methods.

A lot of the algorithms in NR are just their versions of classic (and 
public domain) algorithms found freely available on NETLIB. So even if 
one cannot write them directly from the book, there are other ways to 
get at them. What one can't always get from NETLIB are explanations of 
how the routines work, and why they're designed the way they are, and 
that's where NR comes in handy.

-Lars