Re: [Boost-users] Extending boost::function for mathematics?

don't see what proto has to do with this. Or I still don't understand what proto is intended for. Well, I would guess that if this is built out with proto, it will make it much easier and standard to generalize your own functions and for boost math to implement this for all of theirs. Or maybe I was just trying to sell the proto/expression template guys on getting interested in this problem because they are all geniuses.

I don't understand. Simply replace double with the type of your to be written AD class. Sure, and if boost standardized those types it would be great. But there are two things here. All of your functions you use have to use these new types. Which may be reasonably easy to implement if all of your functions have been written generically (and tougher if you are a library scavenger like me). But a bigger problem is when dealing with multi-dimensions. Forcing conversions of all arrays back and forth between different formats when you use other libraries (I will be using this in solvers and optimizers as well) can be a real issue unless they were all written with the same AD types. And matrices are even worse since there doesn't seem to be an agreed on matrix concept for element access to write generic code(e.g. boost ublas focuses on mymat(index1, index2), and mymat.begin1() to get an column iterator, where multi_array is myarr[i][j] and has different iterator concepts).

I sincerely hope that such a class makes it into boost soon.

Amen!