Development of Mathematical Software and Mathematical Software Libraries,
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to briefly examine several of the major issues concerning the development of numerical mathematical software and numerical mathematical software libraries. The paper begins with a brief summary of the evolution of general-purpose mathematical software libraries. This is followed by an introductory discussion on software reliability. It is often tacitly assumed that most of the basic numerical mathematics problems have satisfactorily been solved. This is shown not to be the case. Indeed, it is noted that many of the problems encounter not only deep theoretical difficulties, but also numerous software engineering problems. The next major topic is software portability. Here the emphasis is on portability difficulties that arise from design deficiencies in the programming languages. It is noted that FORTRAN permits an arithmetic expression to be altered when it is known that the modification can produce different results. The final issues considered are those involved in forming a library. If the purpose of the library is to serve as broad an audience as possible, then it is recognized that the subroutines in the library should be as simple to use and as comprehensive as is practical. Thus formation of the library can be characterized as a packaging problem, the objective being to package mathematical formulae and theory into comprehensive, simple-to-use subroutines. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1979
- Accession Number
- ADA068023
Entities
People
- Alfred H. Morris Jr.
Organizations
- Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division