### $Id: README,v 1.2 2008/02/04 19:57:55 goswami Exp $


                        README for the SMC package
                        --------------------------


================================================================================
QQ.     
        Why did you write the back-end of this package in C and not in R?


AA.

        For the sake of speed (in research), one could ideally
        implement user-provided "Required functions" of this package
        (e.g., generateNextStreamsFunc and logObsDensFunc for
        particleFilter) in C. Note, the user-provided "Optional
        functions" (e.g., resampCriterionFunc, resampFunc and
        summaryFunc) are already implemented in C.
                                                                     
        The interface of this package, however, needs that the user
        provides the above-mentioned functions implemented in R, which
        slows down the underlying C code because of constant back and
        forth between the C-space and the R-space. 

        There is TODO feature of this package, which will be only
        beneficial to the advanced user who knows how to make R and C
        talk. One of the future releases of this package will
        entertain the above-mentioned user-provided functions written
        in C by the user. Of course, that will entail building the
        package from source by the user without errors, but hey, here
        the assumption is that the user is advanced! And then things
        will be as fast as it gets, due to minimal back and forth
        between the C-space and the R-space.



                ---Happy coding and research!---