1) Could maxima realistically benefit from using optimized blas
routines, as does octave?
Maxima does not have much numerical code, for such computations octave
is better and it is also covered by the GNU license. It might be
good to add code to invoke the fortran routines: I once made a file
( src/fortdef.lisp) which set up calls to a subsidiary fortran program
using xdr data exchange. I am afraid I dont know if this still works,
see the example at the end of that file.
2) Could maxima realistically benefit from using MPI and running over
a cluster?
I think it will in the long run, and I will be making gcl have multiprocessor
abilities, sometime in the coming year. Then we will have to find appropriate
places to use this in maxima.
3) Is there any way to use gcl as a stand-alone compiler, making object
files which can be linked with fortran and C object files into the
final executable? It seems as though the way to use gcl to make a ..
You can of course compile lisp files and load them with 'load'. If you
want these to reference some external C or fortran then that C or fortran
has to be linked into the base image (by adding it to the list of files
at link time when gcl/maxima is built). You can compile lisp files and
link them together: that is how gcl is built, all the .c files in the lsp and
cmpnew directories are compiled from .lsp files, and then compiled with gcc
and then linked into the image. Any program that is going to run however
will need things like the garbage collector, storage allocation, bignum routines
etc linked in ... ie basically the files of gcl.
Hope this answers the questions at least somewhat.
william