[IPOL discuss] Suggested changes in Submission Procedure/Author Manual

[Miguel Colom]

Dear all,

I've been reviewing our Submission Procedure in  
http://www.ipol.im/meta/submission/ and I think we should change it.

It says the following:
<<<
Note that to be able to obtain an online demo, code must at least  
fulfill these minimal conditions:

be written in C89, C99 or C++98, usable on a 64-bits Linux system;
use only libtiff, libjpeg, libpng, libgsl, eigen, zlib, fftw, cblas  
and clapack external libraries or be distributed with any other needed  
library;
be usable non-interactively from the command-line;
need at most 1 GB memory and 30 s computation;
read/write PNG, TIFF, PNM, EPS, SVG, VRML or PLY format.
>>>

It's not true any more that we only accept C/C++ code, and there's no  
reason why the algorithms can't go further than 1 Gb of RAM usage,  
since we have a lot of memory in the servers. They should not use an  
exaggerated amount of memory, though.

In my opinion, this text is limiting the potential submission in IPOL:
- We accept not only C/C++ but also Python and MATLAB and we're open  
to other languages eventually.
- All those technical terms give the impression that we're going to  
reject anything which does not follow exactly the norm of the compile  
(C89, C99, C++98), which is not true.
- We give a list of allowed libraries, but these technical details  
should be discussed with the editor, not put here as a strong  
requirement. The editor should tell the editor what is possible and  
what is not, instead of writing "only libtiff, libjpeg, libpng,  
libgsl, eigen, zlib, fftw, cblas and clapack external libraries".
- We say "need at most 1 GB memory and 30 s computation". Again, this  
is flexible. It seems that if your algorithm takes 45 seconds it's  
going to be rejected. And that's not true at all. It should be a  
discussion with the editor instead of a hard limit.
- "read/write PNG, TIFF, PNM, EPS, SVG, VRML or PLY format." --> Same  
comment here. Actually, the system can perform many conversions if  
needed.

I suggest to change all that complicated text by:
<<<
Note that the submitted code must at least fulfill these minimal conditions:

- Be written in C/C++, Python, or MATLAB with minimal dependencies.
- Must compile and run at least in a Debian Stable distribution.

The editor will guide the authors throughout the publication process  
giving technical support when needed.
>>>

The same information appears in the Author Manual:  
https://tools.ipol.im/wiki/ref/author_manual/

I think we should change it as soon as possible, since it's limiting a  
lot future submissions.

Best,
Miguel