Re: Adding a generic mathematical library

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Emanuel Berg <incal@dataswamp.org>
> Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2024 08:07:04 +0200
> 
> Michael Heerdegen via "Emacs development discussions." wrote:
> 
> > I don't understand why it would be a good idea to start
> > from scratch.
> 
> Maybe we should have a math library in ELPA, then it will be
> less hesitation to just add stuff that is desired as we go
> along, not having to argue what relevance it has to Emacs
> per se as a piece of text editing software.

To have a math library on ELPA, the library should be
reasonably-comprehensive, use solid algorithms, and solve problems
that happen in real life frequently enough.  By contrast, my
impression from looking at your library is that it is an ad-hoc
collection of functions that solve problems you personally find
useful, but their general usefulness is IMO questionable, and at least
in some cases the algorithms are not the best ones known for the job.
For example, your mean-value function implements a naïve algorithm
that has known accuracy and round-off issues.

It is perfectly okay to have such libraries for personal use, of
course, but that is not the issue at hand here.

If what you offer is to have a completely different library, then we
need first to talk what will be in it and which algorithms it will
implement.  "Math functions" is a very broad term, so defining the
scope for such a library is not a trivial job.

> In general libraries for everything is a good way of not
> having people write code that solves the same problems over
> and over.

Yes, but since the functions you propose are not in Emacs, and neither
(AFAICT) is any code which resembles them, I wonder whether the need
is a real one and general enough to justify such a package.