Get rid of arma::fill::zeros when we upgrade the minimum armadillo version

[shrit]

Hi,

This issue is only a placeholder for the above task, that we will probably do when we move to C++17 sometime this summer.

[rcurtin]

Agreed, the only thing is we need to look and see when we can use fill::none---there are some cases where it is fine to leave the memory uninitialized, as we then set it immediately. That can save a little bit of computation time.

[conradsnicta]

I recommend upgrading the minimum version of Armadillo to 10.8 as soon as Ubuntu 24.04 LTS comes out, scheduled for end of this month. This would cover the two most recent Ubuntu LTS releases.

• Ubuntu 24.04 LTS has Armadillo 12.6.7
• Ubuntu 22.04 LTS has Armadillo 10.8.2
• Debian 12 has Armadillo 11.4.2
• Debian 13 (testing) has Armadillo 12.6.7
• RHEL EPEL 7 has Armadillo 10.8.2 (note: RHEL 7 is EOL in mid 2024)
• RHEL EPEL 8 & 9 has Armadillo 12.6.6 (subject to future upgrades)

[rcurtin]

Agreed, at that time it is also worth checking through the codebase for any ancient Armadillo compatibility code (sometimes it gets missed).

[shrit]

@conradsnicta we are scheduled to move to C++17 this summer, probably in June of July, at that time, we can take care of this as well. (Specifically with the end of RHEL 7)

[mlpack-bot]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had any recent activity. It will be closed in 7 days if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions! 👍