ST: Finalizing the subtensor Implementation.

[exclowd]

Before beginning to work on the subtensor implementation, I wanted to get everyone's views on implementing it. To me, there seem, two candidates, as I highlighted in my project proposal as well. Note I am comparing them from a design point of view only, as it seems there would not be any performance differences between the two cases.

1. subtensor as an independent type: This is the current implementation present here. It would be easier to build on top of this.
2. Another implementation would be to create a subtensor as an engine. This would create a better design IMO since there would be nothing as subtensor, and it would essentially be a tensor. However, this might not be as straightforward to implement as having a separate type as we might need some changes in the tensor itself to accommodate a new engine.

The subtensor is so that any library user would(normally) not create and only be created by member functions and operators of tensor.

Since we already have an implementation corresponding to 1, maybe I could create an implementation on the same lines as 2. Maybe that could help in the decision-making process?

Well, that's all that I think. But, of course, it would be great to see other's points of view as well.

[bassoy]

Another implementation would be to create a subtensor as an engine.

I favor your second proposal.

However, this might not be as straightforward to implement as having a separate type as we might need some changes in the tensor itself to accommodate a new engine.

I am not sure if we need a change. Perhaps you could provide a small example how a new subtensor engine could look like.

The subtensor is so that any library user would(normally) not create and only be created by member functions and operators of tensor.

Correct. However, subtensor could be a general type of a simple view - a tensor that does not own the memory location.

[exclowd]

Perhaps you could provide a small example how a new subtensor engine could look like.

Sure I'll start working on this right after defining the project in the wiki.