>> - How long have you used PDL?
Since 2009

>> - What PDL version do you use?
2.007

>> - Best thing(s) about PDL
Threading! IDL has no concept of it (well, at least for ndim>1) and will
quietly truncate arrays with non-matching dimensions! NumPy has
"broadcasting," but does not have anywhere near the versatility and
transparency of threading.

PDL::PP + Inline + automatic threading makes the hard remedial and the
impossible simple!

The immensely helpful community on the perldl mailing lists.

>> - Worst thing(s) about PDL
Interface warts from its 'old days.' For example, min/minimum versus
sum/sumover.

This isn't intrinsic to PDL, but the threading engine has a steep learning
curve. This is a general issue with all vectorized languages, and more
expository documentation on this would be very helpful. I taught a 10-week
summer course on scientific computing with PDL to a group of physics and
astronomy students with at least some degree of programming background, and
I think the threading concepts were the hardest for everyone to grasp.

Lack of a coherent plotting library. I think PDL::Graphics::Prima looks
quite promising, though!

>> - I would use PDL more (or at all) if only ...
I use it nearly every day, but it would be great if it would just do my
work for me! :D

>> - Any suggestions for PDL development?
Modularizing PDL to allow for plugin domain-specific utilities that can be
simply fetched from CPAN is now and will continue to be hugely powerful for
pushing PDL forward. I think the recent push to strip PDL down and move
submodules out to separate CPAN repositories is definitely a good thing!

Installation has gotten much easier and is nearly a one-click operation
now. I used to have to fiddle with the Makefile to get it to build (even
from CPAN), but now it "just works." Keeping this as a key element is
definitely a good thing.

While I haven't been core-diving, myself, I understand that there is some
black magic in PDL::Core. Looking forward to the continuation of PDL and
increasing the number of developers, this might be a hinderance.

Thanks.

- Tim



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Chris Marshall <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Cc:
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 19:39:53 -0500
Subject: [Perldl] show of hands for PDL users
Dear PDL Users-

In an effort to gauge the progess of PDL development in functionality
and usability, I would invite you to reply to me or to list with a quick
message about your PDL use:

- How long have you used PDL?
- What PDL version do you use?
- Best thing(s) about PDL
- Worst thing(s) about PDL
- I would use PDL more (or at all) if only ...
- Any suggestions for PDL development?

The goal is to improve the PDL experience and to encourage a
broader PDL user community.

Thanks much,
Chris Marshall (PDL-2.007 release manager)
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