On 12/7/07, Barry Smith <bsmith at mcs.anl.gov> wrote: > > > > I'm on Matt's side. Have you ever considered C++ for implementing > > PETSc internals? > > Python?
Not sure if that was a joke, but in any case, definitely no. For PETSc internals, and for many reasons, a C++ code using simple features (trying avoiding templates, rtti, and all data) like exception handling and polymorphism would simplify a lot the implementation of derived object types (the compiler fills for you the table of method pointers) and error management (the compiler thow exceptions, you do not need to check error codes at almost every line). If C++ exceptions ever cause a loss of performance, the selected parts of all the code doing very heavy number crunching can be implemented in C/Fortran. If PETSc internal were implemented in C++, then we would be able to take advantage of some tools like SWIG, straightforwardly enabling cross-language polymorphism, for implementing new type objects in pure python code, or even inherit for some type and specialize some methods. But this would be for the long, long future. > On Dec 7, 2007, at 7:28 AM, Lisandro Dalcin wrote: > > > On 12/7/07, Matthew Knepley <knepley at gmail.com> wrote: > >> On Dec 6, 2007 9:00 PM, Barry Smith <bsmith at mcs.anl.gov> wrote: > >>> I am very nervous about mixing a catastrophic error handling > >>> system > >>> WITH an exception system. I'd like to go back to the model: > >>> "once seterrq() is called ANYWHERE there is no possibility of > >>> continuing the program. > >> > >> I guess I have the opposite opinion. I think it is inevitable that > >> PETSc > >> is rewritten at some point in the future. At that point, we would > >> replace > >> the current, imperfect exception system with a better one. This way > >> we > >> can preserve a good design. If we go the other way, all that code > >> will > >> have to be rethought instead of just rewritten. > >> > > > > I'm on Matt's side. Have you ever considered C++ for implementing > > PETSc internals? > > > > -- > > Lisandro Dalc?n > > --------------- > > Centro Internacional de M?todos Computacionales en Ingenier?a (CIMEC) > > Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnol?gico para la Industria Qu?mica (INTEC) > > Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cient?ficas y T?cnicas (CONICET) > > PTLC - G?emes 3450, (3000) Santa Fe, Argentina > > Tel/Fax: +54-(0)342-451.1594 > > > > -- Lisandro Dalc?n --------------- Centro Internacional de M?todos Computacionales en Ingenier?a (CIMEC) Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnol?gico para la Industria Qu?mica (INTEC) Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cient?ficas y T?cnicas (CONICET) PTLC - G?emes 3450, (3000) Santa Fe, Argentina Tel/Fax: +54-(0)342-451.1594
