[SciPy-dev] Proposal for more generic optimizers (posted before on scipy-user)

[Alan Isaac]

On Thu, 22 Mar 2007, Matthieu Brucher wrote: 
> the structure for an optimizer is thought so as to be more 
> modular, so implementing a new "optimizer" does not imply 
> writting everything from scratch. Everything cannot be 
> thought in advance, but some can.

We certainly agree on this.  My main expressed concern was 
about interface.  Now I have another possibly crazy thought.

Right now you require an object that implements methods with 
certain names, which is ok but I think not perfect.  Here is 
a possibly crazy thought, just to explore.  How about making 
all arguments optional, and allowing passing either such an 
object or the needed components?  Finally, to accmmodate 
existing objects with a different name structure, allow 
passing a dictionary of attribute names.

fwiw,
Alan