Posted by
Unruh, Jay-2 on
URL: http://imagej.273.s1.nabble.com/FFT-implementation-in-ImageJ-tp5008239p5008315.html
While I agree with the general interpretation of copyright law here, I don't really understand how the numerical recipes restrictive license stands given that much of their code is copied/derived from other papers. I do use numerical recipes to learn about algorithms, but I typically find the primary literature reference and use it for the code if I decide not to recode things.
Anyway, if you want a "written from scratch" fft, feel free to use mine:
http://research.stowers.org/imagejplugins/Jay_Plugins_HTML_source/jalgs/jfft/po4fft.java.htmlIt is surprisingly fast though I won't make any claims of its speed relative to popular platforms like fftw. It is GPL licensed. This is basically to keep people like numerical recipes from copying without shame (and yes, shame is probably the only preventative factor). I'm happy to relicense for specific applications.
Jay
-----Original Message-----
From: ImageJ Interest Group [mailto:
[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Curtis Rueden
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 10:42 PM
To:
[hidden email]
Subject: Re: FFT implementation in ImageJ
Hi Dimiter,
> I don't think that by porting C code to Java one violates any license.
> Porting requires usually reimplementation and re-optimization. This is
> in fact new development. So I wouldn't bother about licensing issues
> in this case.
Incorrect.
From the Numerical Recipes website [1]:
> The Numerical Recipes programs are all copyrighted by the authors of
> the Numerical Recipes books. Under copyright law, all "derivative
> works" (modified versions, or translations into another computer
> language) also come under the same copyright.
From Digital Law Online [2]:
> Many people have reimplemented computer programs by rewriting them to
> replace the source code with code of their own writing. There is no
> reason to believe that this would not be a copyright infringement,
> particularly if the reimplementer had access to the source code of the
> original program, even if none of the original source code remains.
As I said, it is best to completely avoid the Numerical Recipes code, since it is only available under a very restrictive license not conducive to open source development or distribution.
-Curtis
[1]
http://www.nr.com/com/info-copyright.html[2]
http://digital-law-online.info/lpdi1.0/treatise27.htmlOn Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 4:28 AM, Dimiter Prodanov (imec) <
[hidden email]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I don't think that by porting C code to Java one violates any license.
> Porting requires usually reimplementation and re-optimization.
> This is in fact new development. So I wouldn't bother about licensing
> issues in this case.
> Besides, there are some mistakes in the Numerical Recipes.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Dimiter
>
>
>
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