Numina - Backend-Agnostic Array Library for Rust

A safe, efficient array library with ndarray-compatible operations, designed as the foundation for high-performance computing backends in Rust.

Features

• Safe & Ergonomic: Memory-safe array operations with Rust's guarantees
• Type Safe: Compile-time shape and data type validation
• Backend Agnostic: NdArray trait enables multiple backends (CPU, GPU, remote)
• Extensible Types: Support for custom data types (BFloat16, quantized types)
• Zero Dependencies: Pure Rust implementation

Quick Start

use numina::{Array, Shape, add, matmul, sum, F32};

// Create arrays
let a = Array::from_slice(&[1.0f32, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0], Shape::from([2, 2]))?;
let b = Array::from_slice(&[5.0f32, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0], Shape::from([2, 2]))?;

// Operations work on any NdArray backend
let c = add(&a, &b)?;           // Element-wise addition
let d = matmul(&a, &b)?;        // Matrix multiplication
let total = sum(&a, None)?;     // Sum all elements
let row_sums = sum(&a, Some(1))?; // Sum along axis

Core Types

• Array<T>: Typed N-dimensional arrays for CPU operations
• CpuBytesArray: Byte-based N-dimensional arrays for CPU operations
• NdArray: Backend-agnostic trait for all array operations
• Shape: Multi-dimensional array dimensions
• DType: Data types (f32, f64, i8-i64, u8-u64, bool, custom types)

Design Philosophy: Numina provides the low-level backend infrastructure. High-level tensor APIs (like Tensor types) are provided by dependent crates like laminax-types which build upon Numina's NdArray trait.

Custom Data Types

use numina::{BFloat16, QuantizedU8, QuantizedI4};

// Brain Float 16
let bf16 = BFloat16::from_f32(3.14159);
assert_eq!(bf16.size_bytes(), 2);

// 8-bit quantized
let q8 = QuantizedU8::quantize(2.5, 0.01);
assert!((q8.dequantize() - 2.5).abs() < 0.1);

// 4-bit quantized (2 values per byte)
let q4 = QuantizedI4::pack(3, -2, 1.0);
assert_eq!(q4.size_bytes(), 1); // 87.5% memory savings!

Multiple Backends

use numina::{Array, CpuBytesArray, Shape, add, F32};

// Different backend implementations
let typed_array = Array::from_slice(&[1.0f32, 2.0], Shape::from([2]))?;
let bytes = [1.0f32, 2.0].iter().flat_map(|&x| x.to_le_bytes()).collect();
let byte_array = CpuBytesArray::new(bytes, Shape::from([2]), F32);

// Same operations work on all backends
let sum1 = add(&typed_array, &byte_array)?;
let sum2 = add(&byte_array, &typed_array)?;

// Cross-backend operations are fully supported
assert_eq!(sum1.shape(), sum2.shape());

Architecture

src/
├── array/           # NdArray trait and CPU implementations
├── dtype/           # Data type system and custom types
├── ops.rs           # Mathematical operations
├── reductions.rs    # Reduction operations
├── sorting.rs       # Sorting and searching
└── lib.rs           # Library interface

Status

Implemented:

• Array operations (add, mul, matmul, reductions)
• Multiple backends via NdArray trait (Array, CpuBytesArray)
• Custom data types (BFloat16, QuantizedU8, QuantizedI4)
• Shape manipulation (reshape, transpose)
• Sorting and searching operations
• 31 tests passing

Planned:

• Broadcasting, advanced indexing, linear algebra
• File I/O, statistics
• Memory-mapped arrays
• More custom data types (FP8, FP4, NF4)

Integration

Numina serves as one of the core libraries for Laminax, enabling high-performance GPU/CPU computing.