RCL: A C++ Library and Programming Discipline for Research

This report describes the design of a C++ library and programming discipline for research projects that aims to be efficient, flexible, simple, and safe. It includes classes for fundamental data structures, LAPACK based linear algebra, random numbers and probabilistic models, image processing and vision-related tasks, and geometric structures. The pro gramming discipline is based on a simple approach to memory manage ment that has a number of advantages over that used by other C++ libraries. Every object has a string form which can be used for data in put and output, checkpointing, debugging, inter-program communication, and cross-architecture communication