Title
A Simple And Practical Linear Algebra Library Interface With Static Size Checking
Abstract
Linear algebra is a major field of numerical computation and is widely applied. Most linear algebra libraries (in most programming languages) do not statically guarantee consistency of the dimensions of vectors and matrices, causing runtime errors. While advanced type systems-specifically, dependent types on natural numbers-can ensure consistency among the sizes of collections such as lists and arrays [3, 4, 22], such type systems generally require non-trivial changes to existing languages and application programs, or tricky type-level programming.We have developed a linear algebra library interface that verifies the consistency (with respect to dimensions) of matrix operations by means of generative phantom types, implemented via fairly standard ML types and module system. To evaluate its usability, we ported to it a practical machine learning library from a traditional linear algebra library. We found that most of the changes required for the porting could be made mechanically, and changes that needed human thought are minor.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.4204/EPTCS.198.1
ELECTRONIC PROCEEDINGS IN THEORETICAL COMPUTER SCIENCE
DocType
Issue
ISSN
Journal
198
2075-2180
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
2
0.40
4
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Akinori Abe110830.05
Eijiro Sumii231523.74