computer science

GNU Scientific Library

GNU Scientific Library is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand GNU Scientific Library rather than just read about it. In short: The GNU Scientific Library (or GSL) is a software library for numerical computations in applied mathematics and science. The GSL is written in C; wrappers are available for other programming languages.

Key takeaways

GNU Scientific Library belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect GNU Scientific Library to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of GNU Scientific Library from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The GNU Scientific Library (or GSL) is a software library for numerical computations in applied mathematics and science. The GSL is written in C; wrappers are available for other programming languages. The GSL is part of the GNU Project and is distributed under the GNU General Public License.

Project history The GSL project was initiated in 1996 by physicists Mark Galassi and James Theiler of Los Alamos National Laboratory. They aimed at writing a modern replacement for widely used but somewhat outdated Fortran libraries such as Netlib. They carried out the overall design and wrote early modules; with that ready they recruited other scientists to contribute. The "overall development of the library and the design and implementation of the major modules" was carried out by Brian Gough and Gerard Jungman. Other major contributors were Jim Davies, Reid Priedhorsky, M. Booth, and F. Rossi. Version 1.0 was released in 2001. In the following years, the library expanded only slowly; as the documentation stated, the maintainers were more interested in stability than in additional functionality. Major version 1 ended with release 1.16 of July 2013; this was the only public activity in the three years 2012–2014. Vigorous development resumed with publication of version 2.0 in October 2015, which included user contributed patches. The latest version 2.8 was released in May 2024.

Example The following example program calculates the value of the Bessel function of the first kind and order zero for 5:

The example program has to be linked to the GSL library upon compilation:

The output is shown below and should be correct to double-precision accuracy:

Features The software library provides facilities for:

Programming-language bindings Since the GSL is written in C, it is straightforward to provide wrappers for other programming languages. Such wrappers currently exist for

AMPL C++ Fortran Haskell Java Julia Common Lisp Nim OCaml GNU Octave Perl Data Language Python R Ruby Rust

C++ support The GSL can be used in C++ classes, but not using pointers to member functions, because the type of pointer to member function is different from pointer to function. Instead, pointers to static functions have to be used. Another common workaround is using a functor. C++ wrappers for GSL are available. Not all of these are regularly maintained. They do offer access to matrix and vector classes without having to use GSL's interface to malloc and free functions. Some also offer support for also creating workspaces that behave like smart pointer classes. Finally, there is (limited, as of April 2020) support for allowing the user to create classes to represent a parameterised function as a functor. While not strictly wrappers, there are some C++ classes that allow C++ users to use the Gnu Scientific Library with wrapper features.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with GNU Scientific Library

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what GNU Scientific Library claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to GNU Scientific Library before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about GNU Scientific Library ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of GNU Scientific Library

In research: GNU Scientific Library appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses GNU Scientific Library in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: GNU Scientific Library is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics C (programming language) libraries, Free computer libraries, Free software programmed in C, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for GNU Scientific Library outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study GNU Scientific Library in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what GNU Scientific Library means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain GNU Scientific Library out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is GNU Scientific Library in simple terms?

Why does GNU Scientific Library matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study GNU Scientific Library?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on GNU Scientific Library.