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digitalmars.D - Contribution to cover C++11 functionality

reply Ilya Yaroshenko <ilyayaroshenko gmail.com> writes:
Hi,

Mir Random has [1, D] 16 out of 20 [2, C++] random number 
distributions.

Remaining 4 are:

1. piecewise_constant_distribution
2. piecewise_linear_distribution
3. binomial_distribution
4. negative_binomial_distribution

[1] http://docs.random.dlang.io/latest/mir_random_variable.html
[2] 
http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/concept/RandomNumberDistribution

Any takers?

Thanks,
Ilya
Nov 30 2016
parent reply Timon Gehr <timon.gehr gmx.ch> writes:
On 30.11.2016 16:22, Ilya Yaroshenko wrote:

 Hi,

 Mir Random has [1, D] 16 out of 20 [2, C++] random number distributions.

 Remaining 4 are:

 1. piecewise_constant_distribution
 2. piecewise_linear_distribution
 3. binomial_distribution
 4. negative_binomial_distribution

 [1] http://docs.random.dlang.io/latest/mir_random_variable.html
 [2] http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/concept/RandomNumberDistribution

 Any takers?

 Thanks,
 Ilya


Unrelated question: Why are the samplers called 'random variables'?
I'd advice to consistently use the naming convention of 'Discrete' and 
rename the module to 'mir.random.distributions' or similar.
Nov 30 2016
next sibling parent jmh530 <john.michael.hall gmail.com> writes:
On Wednesday, 30 November 2016 at 20:36:34 UTC, Timon Gehr wrote:

 Unrelated question: Why are the samplers called 'random 
 variables'?
 I'd advice to consistently use the naming convention of 
 'Discrete' and rename the module to 'mir.random.distributions' 
 or similar.


It also could lead to confusion with distributions over vectors 
or matrices, such as multivariate normal or wishart.
Nov 30 2016
prev sibling parent reply Ilya Yaroshenko <ilyayaroshenko gmail.com> writes:
On Wednesday, 30 November 2016 at 20:36:34 UTC, Timon Gehr wrote:

 On 30.11.2016 16:22, Ilya Yaroshenko wrote:

 Hi,

 Mir Random has [1, D] 16 out of 20 [2, C++] random number 
 distributions.

 Remaining 4 are:

 1. piecewise_constant_distribution
 2. piecewise_linear_distribution
 3. binomial_distribution
 4. negative_binomial_distribution

 [1] http://docs.random.dlang.io/latest/mir_random_variable.html
 [2] 
 http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/concept/RandomNumberDistribution

 Any takers?

 Thanks,
 Ilya


 Unrelated question: Why are the samplers called 'random 
 variables'?
 I'd advice to consistently use the naming convention of 
 'Discrete' and rename the module to 'mir.random.distributions' 
 or similar.


"random distribution" is like "accidental distribution". "random 
variable" is much more frequently used definition is stats world 
(stats world != stats packages). Also this better describes what 
functionality provides module. "Distribution" may be used for PDF 
or for CDF (or their pair). "probability distribution" and 
"random variable" looks better (IMHO) then "random distribution", 
which has another meaning in stats world: a distribution, which 
was chosen randomly from a class of distributions. For example, 
variance-mean mixtures. --Ilya
Nov 30 2016
next sibling parent Timon Gehr <timon.gehr gmx.ch> writes:
On 30.11.2016 22:12, Ilya Yaroshenko wrote:

 On Wednesday, 30 November 2016 at 20:36:34 UTC, Timon Gehr wrote:

 On 30.11.2016 16:22, Ilya Yaroshenko wrote:

 Hi,

 Mir Random has [1, D] 16 out of 20 [2, C++] random number distributions.

 Remaining 4 are:

 1. piecewise_constant_distribution
 2. piecewise_linear_distribution
 3. binomial_distribution
 4. negative_binomial_distribution

 [1] http://docs.random.dlang.io/latest/mir_random_variable.html
 [2] http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/concept/RandomNumberDistribution

 Any takers?

 Thanks,
 Ilya


 Unrelated question: Why are the samplers called 'random variables'?
 I'd advice to consistently use the naming convention of 'Discrete' and
 rename the module to 'mir.random.distributions' or similar.


 "random distribution" is like "accidental distribution".


I wasn't aware that you want to read your package names like that (Such 
a reading does not seem to be possible for the other mir packages).


 "random
 variable" is much more frequently used definition is stats world (stats
 world != stats packages).


I'm familiar with statistics, and I agree that the terminology used 
should be 'right'.


 Also this better describes what functionality
 provides module.


Not really. The module provides samplers/generators for random variates 
drawn from certain probability distributions. But even if the module 
name stays, the /generators/ shouldn't be called "Variable".


 "Distribution" may be used for PDF or for CDF (or their
 pair).


The distribution is the fundamental thing, the PDF/CDF characterize it.
Nov 30 2016
prev sibling parent reply Joseph Rushton Wakeling <joseph.wakeling webdrake.net> writes:
On Wednesday, 30 November 2016 at 21:12:16 UTC, Ilya Yaroshenko 
wrote:

 "random distribution" is like "accidental distribution".


Not really.  I would use "randomly chosen distribution" for that.


 "random variable" is much more frequently used definition is 
 stats world (stats world != stats packages). Also this better 
 describes what functionality provides module. "Distribution" 
 may be used for PDF or for CDF (or their pair). "probability 
 distribution" and "random variable" looks better (IMHO) then 
 "random distribution", which has another meaning in stats 
 world: a distribution, which was chosen randomly from a class 
 of distributions. For example, variance-mean mixtures. --Ilya


"Random variable" is obviously the strict mathematical term, but 
there are a few reasons why "distribution" might be a better term 
to use in the API:

   * many users will not be statisticians; "distribution" is 
likely to be
     a more easily-understood term, while "variable" may confuse 
some users
     since it may be mixed up with 'variable' as in a program 
variable;

   * outside of mathematics many researchers use the term 
"distribution"
     quite casually and readily;

   * the C++11 standard calls these entities distributions, so 
calling the
     D functionality by similar names allows for easy 
understanding and
     adaptation.

(Strictly speaking the C++11 standard uses 'distribution' to 
refer to functors that take a source of uniformly-distributed 
random bits as input, and use that to generate variates with 
other statistical properties.)
Dec 01 2016
parent reply Jethro <Mr.Jethro Tull.com> writes:
On Thursday, 1 December 2016 at 13:42:32 UTC, Joseph Rushton 
Wakeling wrote:

 On Wednesday, 30 November 2016 at 21:12:16 UTC, Ilya Yaroshenko 
 wrote:

 [...]


 Not really.  I would use "randomly chosen distribution" for 
 that.

 [...]


There is a problem with `distribution` in that it also has other 
meanings. `Random variable` is pretty well established
Dec 01 2016
parent Joseph Rushton Wakeling <joseph.wakeling webdrake.net> writes:
On Thursday, 1 December 2016 at 15:28:28 UTC, Jethro wrote:

 There is a problem with `distribution` in that it also has 
 other meanings.


Yes, but in context, is `random distribution` actually ambiguous? 
  What might people confuse it with?


 `Random variable` is pretty well established


But is that matching with the strictest of mathematical 
terminology worth it compared to matching terminology with a well 
established API standard?
Dec 01 2016