From: Saji N Hameed <saji@...21.net>
Date: 2008-11-30T21:48:49+09:00
Subject: Re: Good math/stats libraries for Ruby?

* Cameron McBride <cameron.mcbride@gmail.com> [2008-11-28 09:15:38 +0900]:

> On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 20:09, Saji N. Hameed <saji@apcc21.net> wrote:
> > I wish there was a Ruby port of the NCAR Command Language,
> > (http://ncl.ucar.edu) a set of libraries for numerical data
> > analysis and visualisation. There
> > is a Python version though http://www.pyngl.ucar.edu/ .  If there is some
> > group effort in making a port of this to Ruby, I will volunteer to help,
> > with my minimal ruby skills (i am better with scientific data analyis
> > though).
> 
> I've run across this a couple times, but have never tried to use it.
> NCAR seems targeted at atmospheric science.  Besides plotting, what
> advantages does it have over the GSL bindings?  What advantages would
> it bring to have a ruby binding?  My guess is it'd be the same people
> that use NCAR, but now they could script using ruby syntax.  While
> that is a fine goal, I'm not sure it would satisfy the broader scope
> (but I could be wrong, which is why I'm asking).

I have not much experience with GSL bindings. Looks like a collection of 
basic math libraries with which you may build up a toolkit for something.

NCL (NCAR Command Language) is a tool kit for spatial and time series analysis
of multi-dimensional data sets. Things I like about it are:
  1. Data model based on netcdf (basically data accompanied with metadata)
  2. A large collection of libraries for spatial and time series analysis
  3. Good graphic capabilities
  4. The data model could be easily manipulated in a Fortran like style
  5. Easy extensibility - users may extend NCL libraries with their own
      Fortran or C code (write a stub file describing the headers, run
      a simple script and you are ready to go)
      - thus any of the basic math libraries (available in GSL for example) 
        may be easily used in NCL with minimal effort
  6. Great documentation
  7. Open-source from version 5.0 onwards

I guess NCL may not necessarily be only for the geophysical sciences - it
is sufficiently generic (data model & analysis + visualisation libraries)
for most needs.  I am from the climate sciences, so I may be 
a bit biased ;) But I think the design of NCL may help us think 
about a data analysis and visualisation toolkit for Ruby. 

saji
-- 
Saji N. Hameed

APEC Climate Center          				+82 51 668 7470
National Pension Corporation Busan Building 12F         
Yeonsan 2-dong, Yeonje-gu, BUSAN 611705			saji@apcc21.net
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