Practical additions to kdtree library

[Paul Harris]

It is great to use compile-time settings, IF they will improve the
performance.  But in this case I don't think there will be any speed lost by
moving the dimensionality into the runtime-world.

2008/9/30 Prabhanjan Kambadur <pkambadu at indiana.edu>

> Dear Sylvain and Paul,
>
> Thank you for the interest. Just to clarify, I did not envision a KDTree
> that would change dimensionality on the fly. The use case would be more
> like:
>
> KDTree<MyCoordinateType> my_tree;
> my_tree.set_dimension(3);
> // use the tree
> my_tree.wipe();
> my_tree.set_dimension(5);
> // use it again.
>
> Here, MyCoordinateType can be dynamically reconfigured. Of course, the
> method names could be more fitting :-). The reason I mention this is because
> we use the KDTree as a primary data structure in the library. We support
> reconfiguring our library through a similar mechanism. Being a staunch
> supporter of the generic programming paradigm, I am all for compile-time
> polymorphism. At the same time, I have been convinced by the scientists we
> work with at the IBM T J Watson Research Center that the dimensionality
> really is a feature of the data set, and as such, should be a runtime
> parameter (in this particular case at least).
>
> Actually, one could support setting the dimension both at compile-time and
> at run-time. For example, one can imagine partial specialization of the
> KDTree for a particular sentinel value of dimension.
>
> For example:
>
> *enum {KDTree_reconfigurable=0xDEADBEEF};
>
> template <typename __Val,
>                  typename _Acc,
>                  typename _Cmp
>                  typename _Alloc>
> struct KDTree<KDTree_reconfigurable,
>                          __Val,
>                          _Acc,
>                          _Cmp
>                          _Alloc> KDTree : public ... {
>
> };
> *
> Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the use of the
> suggested features.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Anju
>
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