The document discusses the importance of software frameworks in music information retrieval (MIR), highlighting the benefits of code reuse and efficiency. It critiques Matlab for being proprietary, inefficient, and unstructured, suggesting alternatives like Octave for better performance and open access. Additionally, it advocates for the use of C++ frameworks due to their efficiency and non-proprietary nature, while summarizing that frameworks are evolving entities that offer essential tools for development.

1. Software Frameworks for MIR
Because Code also Matters...
ISMIR 2004
Xavier Amatrian

2. The value of implementation
● Code is documentation
● Code is publication
● Code is test
● Code is prove of concept

3. Why using a framework
● We do not want to “reinvent the wheel”
– Reuse of code + Reuse of implementation
● We want to dedicate as less time as possible to
implemtation, why not use something that has
proven to be useful in a similar situation.
– Framework = Patterns + Implementation

4. Frameworks, libraries, applications
(I)
● A Framework is a general pool of constructs that
is not tightly enough organized to constitute a
predictive theory.
● A Software Framework is an abstract design that
can be instantiated in a particular way for a
particular application.
● An OO Software Framework is a set of classes
that embodies an abstract design for solutions to a
family of problems.

5. Frameworks, libraries, applications
(II)
● A Software Framework must offer:
– Ready­to­use components (black­box)
– Extension capabilities (white­box)
● A Software Framework has to somehow grant
access to source code.

6. Frameworks, libraries, applications
(III)
● A software library is simply a collection of
functionalities that are conveniently packed and
can be accessed through an API
● It is used from an application.

7. General Classification of
Audio/Music Environments

8. Classification of MIR­related
Environments

9. Matlab and similar environments:
What is wrong with Matlab anyway?
● Matlab is Proprietary
– Everyone has it?
● What about the toolkits
– Do I really know what is going on inside? Does that
matter?
– This problem has an obvious solution: Octave (
www.octave.org)
● It is used by many “top” institutions such as NASA
● It has an interesting open and growing repository: Octave­
Forge

10. Matlab and similar environments:
What is wrong with Matlab anyway?
● Matlab is Unefficient
– Some disciplines such as MIR have to really do
number­crunching and large database analysis.
– Matlab code may take many times more than its
functional equivalent in a compiled programming
language.
● Matlab is Unstructured
– By definition Matlab and similar environments favor
unstructured code
– They do not favor reusability

11. C++ Software Frameworks
● Why C++?
– It is efficient
– It can be OO
– It is a non­proprietary standard
– Many existing tools are on C++
● Other languages
– Java
● it is not efficient and it is proprietary
– Perl
● it is not efficient and it is not OO

12. Conclusions
● It is worth to use a framework
● It is important to know what is out there and what
we can expect from it
● Frameworks are evolving by nature
● Frameworks generate metamodels