FastScat™: An Object-Oriented Program for Fast Scattering Computation

Issue title: The First Annual Object-Oriented Numerics Conference (OON-SKI '93)

Article type: Research Article

Authors: HAMILTON, LISA | STALZER, MARK | TURLEY, R. STEVEN | VISHER, JOHN | WANDZURA, STEPHEN

Affiliations: Hughes Research Laboratories, 3011 Malibu Canyon Road, Malibu, CA 90265

Abstract: FastScat is a state-of-the-art program for computing electromagnetic scattering and radiation. Its purpose is to support the study of recent algorithmic advancements, such as the fast multipole method, that promise speed-ups of several orders of magnitude over conventional algorithms. The complexity of these algorithms and their associated data structures led us to adopt an object-oriented methodology for FastScat. We discuss the program's design and several lessons learned from its C++ implementation including the appropriate level for object-orientedness in numeric software, maintainability benefits, interfacing to Fortran libraries such as LAPACK, and performance issues.

Journal: Scientific Programming, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 171-178, 1993