Future Directions for Numerical Software Research - Comments during Discussions at WoCo9, Prescott, AZ, July 16-21, 2006

During the discussion periods, various people expressed the concern that numerical software development had become poorly supported over the past decade, with funding agencies seeking projects that seem to ignore the development of algorithms and software for numerical computations. In the past, the community has emphasized the development of mathematical software libraries. Currently, there appears to be no interest in that mode of presentation and mode of access to our numerical software by the application community. The suggestion by Ron Boisvert and others was the Grid services may provide the new mode of access. This note discusses the relevant issues on the topic as expressed in conversation at the meeting and considered with friends since.