CA proposal by D.Thurston

[Ch. A. Herrmann]

Hi Haskellers,

>>>>> "S" == S D Mechveliani <S.D.Mechveliani> writes:

    S> I was said that there exists an algebraic library proposal for
    S> Haskell (version 0.02) dated by February (2001?), by Dylan
    S> Thurston.

that sounds interesting for me. Sorry, that I don't have an answer to your 
question, but I like to state some points about an algebraic library.

A standard algebraic library has several advantages to many different
tools developed by individual programmers:

(1) One can benefit from the knowledge and experience of others
    (and of their work also, of course)
(2) An open discussion process will help to avoid
    errors or difficulties in use
(3) Programs written by others that use the library functions
    are more comprehensible

I've got no impression of how such a library may look like
and if the library is meant to be updated from time to time.
Anyway, an algebraic library is important:
it is nice that Haskell has the rational numbers but recently, it
appeared useful for me also to have the algebraic numbers, e.g.,
to evaluate expressions containing roots exactly. The problem is
that I'm not an expert in this stuff and thus, be very glad if
such things are added by an expert.

On the other hand, I'd like to add things like a linear equation solver
for a non-invertible system which may help to convince people that
Haskell provides more features than other programming languages do.

Cheers
Christoph