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Diffstat (limited to 'devel/libctl/DESCR')
-rw-r--r-- | devel/libctl/DESCR | 19 |
1 files changed, 19 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/devel/libctl/DESCR b/devel/libctl/DESCR new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..b3c28c23aba --- /dev/null +++ b/devel/libctl/DESCR @@ -0,0 +1,19 @@ +Scientific software for performing large computations is typically +managed using textual control files that specify the parameters of the +computation. Historically, these control files have typically +consisted of long, inflexible collections of numbers whose meaning and +format is hard-coded into the program. With libctl, we make it easy +for programmers to support a greatly superior control file structure, +and with less effort than was required for traditional input formats. + +All of these goals are achieved by libctl with the help of Guile, the +GNU scripting and extensibility language. Guile does all of the hard +work for us, and allows us to embed a complete interpreter in a +program with minimal effort. + +Despite its power, libctl is designed to be easy to use. A basic user +only sees a convenient file format with a programming language to +back it up if her needs become more complex. For the programmer, all +headaches associated with reading input files are lifted--once an +abstract specification is supplied, all interaction with the user is +handled automatically. |