Re: Curve fitting (was Re: Python Plugins)

[Jody Goldberg <jody gnome org>]

On Fri, May 17, 2002 at 11:16:11AM -0400, Daniel Carrera wrote:
> I'd really like to see Gnumeric have a generic curve-fitting function
> (it's sort of a "personal itch").
Lovely, this would be a nice addition.

> How difficult is it to integrate stuff into Gnumeric?
It depends alot on what it is.  For something like this I doubt you
would be changing the core system.  Which should be very easy to
develop in parallel and integrate.

> Can I do most of the work on my own and just come one day and say "here it
> is"?
I envision this having 2 parts
1) writing the fitter of your dreams
2) Looking at the interfaces for the current fitter and your fitter
   and seeing if we can generalize the requirements so that future
   work can be done in plugins.

> Are there any "guidelines" for making code that's useful to Gnumeric?
The HACKING file details the format that code should take.
 
> About the GPL:
> The algorithms I need are well-known.  Much of the code I need is already
> in the public domain  (_Numerical_Recipes_).  Is there any problem using
> public-domain code in GPL code?
This is trickier.  I don't know what the licensing for code from
numeric recipes is.  We'd better have a look before commiting any of
it.  Which of their routines would you like to use ?  There is
already a fair amount of simple linear algebra code in place (from R
and other places).