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

[Alan G Isaac]

> Alan wrote:
>> 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. 

On Thu, 22 Mar 2007, Matthieu Brucher apparently wrote: 
> Indeed, that could be a solution. The only question 
> remaining is how to use the dictionnary, perhaps creating 
> a fake object with the correct interface ? 

OK, I see why you want that approach.
(So that you can still pass a single object around in your 
optimizer module.)  Yes, that seems right...
This seems to bundle naturally with a specific optimizer?
If so, the class definition should reside in the StandardOptimizer module.

Cheers,
Alan Isaac

PS For readability, I think Optimizer should define 
a "virtual" iterate method. E.g.,
def iterate(self):
    return NotImplemented