Re: FindMinimum v. NMinimize and an external program
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg125176] Re: FindMinimum v. NMinimize and an external program
- From: Szabolcs <szhorvat at gmail.com>
- Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2012 04:20:16 -0500 (EST)
- Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
- References: <jia0qc$1c4$1@smc.vnet.net>
On Saturday, 25 February 2012 08:58:20 UTC+2, Ian wrote:
> Can anyone say whether the following behavior is expected and why? I'd like to avoid learning how to use MathLink, but I need to use FindMinimum on a large external calculation and my way is broken.
>
> Say there's a command line program called 'prog' that calculates y = (x-1)^2, reading x from a named pipe called 'in' and writing y to a named pipe called 'out'. Mathematica interacts with prog by reading and writing to the pipes. Like ...
>
> > in = OpenWrite["in"];
> > f[x_?NumericQ]:=(Write[in, CForm[x]]; First[ReadList["!cat out", Number]])
>
> Calling NMinimize on f gives the correct answer, but FindMinimum doesn't. Specifically, FindMinimum[f[x], {x, 0}] returns the message FindMinimum::fmgz. That is, Mathematica thinks the gradient is zero.
>
> I can't find a reason the two functions should behave differently. Any thoughts?
>
> A couple details for the DIYers. Here's prog:
> #include <stdio.h>
> #include <math.h>
> int main()
> {
> FILE * io;
> int j;
> double x,y;
>
> while((j = scanf("%lf", &x)) != EOF)
> {
> y = pow((x-1.0), 2);
> io = fopen("out", "w");
> fprintf(io, "%e\n", y);
> fclose(io);
> }
> return;
> }
>
> Run prog with a redirect for stdin, as in
> /prog < in
Not a direct answer, but I very much recommend learning LibraryLink (not MathLink). Please see the answers to a question I asked about which is the easiest way to integrate Mathematica with C/C++ code:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8140869/minimal-effort-method-for-integrating-c-functions-into-mathematica
There's a short but complete guide to setting up a LibraryLink program in Arnoud Buzing's answer. Please take a look at it. Your situation will be even easier because both your input and output are scalars.
Advantages of LibraryLink compared to pipes:
* fast -- you have direct access to Mathematica's memory (no need for I/O, converting between strings and numbers, slow process launching)
* more robust (no need to create named pipes---I don't even know how to do that on Windows)
* cross platform
I find it's less work and less worry than hackish approaches such as pipes, also it probably won't take you more than 30 minutes to get it working the first time.