Programming Tools for Geometric Algebra

Geometric algebra has only recently been embraced by the computer graphics community with major centers of research at Cambridge University (UK), University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and MPI Saarbruecken (Germany). Research at Cambridge University focuses on the areas of physics, computer vision, motion analysis and computer graphics [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29]. Research at the University of Amsterdam is in computer science and computer graphics [30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37], [38], [39], whilst pose estimation and marker-less motion capture is investigated at MPI Saarbruecken [40], [41], [42].

As mentioned in the Preface, the Internet is a rich source of material for anyone wanting to learn about GA – most of the information is extremely good although some websites are unreadable. Nevertheless, what is important is the level of interest being taken in an algebraic system; this is extremely healthy, and will help resolve the notation and future use of the algebra. This process is much more democratic than what happened in the late 19th century when the nature of vector analysis was decided by a few influential people.

In this brief chapter I draw the reader’s attention to some of the software tools available to programmers wanting to embrace GA.