Title
AD in Fortran, Part 1: Design
Abstract
We propose extensions to Fortran which integrate forward and reverse Automatic Differentiation (AD) directly into the programming model. Irrespective of implementation technology, embedding AD constructs directly into the language extends the reach and convenience of AD while allowing abstraction of concepts of interest to scientific-computing practice, such as root finding, optimization, and finding equilibria of continuous games. Multiple different subprograms for these tasks can share common interfaces, regardless of whether and how they use AD internally. A programmer can maximize a function F by calling a library maximizer, XSTAR=ARGMAX(F,X0), which internally constructs derivatives of F by AD, without having to learn how to use any particular AD tool. We illustrate the utility of these extensions by example: programs become much more concise and closer to traditional mathematical notation. A companion paper describes how these extensions can be implemented by a program that generates input to existing Fortran-based AD tools.
Year
Venue
Field
2012
CoRR
Mathematical notation,Programming language,Abstraction,Programmer,Embedding,Programming paradigm,Computer science,Automatic differentiation,Fortran,Theoretical computer science,Root-finding algorithm
DocType
Volume
Citations 
Journal
abs/1203.1448
3
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.63
2
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Alexey Radul1358.90
Barak A. Pearlmutter21963567.26
Jeffrey Mark Siskind376385.21