Annotation of OpenXM_contrib/pari-2.2/Announce.2.0.alpha, Revision 1.1.1.1
1.1 noro 1:
2: Announcement of the Pari-2.0.ALPHA release
3:
4: This message is to announce the alpha release of version 2.0 of the
5: PARI/GP system. It can be found at:
6:
7: ftp://megrez.math.u-bordeaux.fr/pub/pari/unix/pari-2.0.alpha.tar.gz
8:
9: For those who do not yet know, PARI/GP is a package which is aimed at
10: efficient computations in number theory, but also contains a large number
11: of other useful functions. It is somewhat related to a Computer Algebra
12: System, but is not really one since it treats symbolic expressions as
13: mathematical entities such as polynomials, series, matrices, etc..., and
14: not as expressions per se. However it is often much faster than other
15: CAS, and contains a huge number of specific functions not found
16: elsewhere, essentially for use in number theory. In particular, and
17: especially so in the present release, there is a very large package for
18: working in general algebraic number fields.
19:
20: This package can be used in an interactive shell (GP) or as a C/C++
21: library (PARI).
22:
23: In addition, it is free!
24:
25: For all questions related to Pari itself, mail to
26:
27: pari@math.u-bordeaux.fr
28:
29: Enjoy!
30:
31: ========================================================================
32: From the README file:
33:
34: The ALPHA status means that bugs might still be lurking around, that
35: the documentation might not be absolutely accurate, and that some
36: features or function names might change on short notice. Apart from that
37: word of caution, we believe this version is stable enough to warrant an
38: immediate release.
39:
40: We think it is important for you and for us that you try this new
41: version and send us feedback, since we can then improve the BETA version
42: (scheduled in a few months) and finally the RELEASE version.
43:
44: To save us time and worries, this is a UNIX-only, source-code-only,
45: release. We will provide binaries for later, stabler, versions.
46:
47: ========================================================================
48: Some NEW features:
49:
50: I) The GP/PARI structure has been cleaned up.
51:
52: * The whole configuration process has been automated, and a Configure
53: file is provided. Just typing 'Configure' should see you home in most
54: cases.
55:
56: * PARI is now available as a dynamic library, thanks to Louis Granboulan.
57: (you can link gp with it should you wish to). This saves a tremendous
58: amount of disk space, and is generaly more convenient as you don't need
59: to re-link your files when updating the library (or when debugging.
60: or profiling, or...).
61:
62: * types now have a symbolic mnemotechnic name (e.g t_INT for an integer,
63: t_VEC for a vector, and so on).
64:
65: * General speed-up (depends on your applications, about 20% for our
66: generic testing file).
67:
68: * Experimental module loading structure (the actual function tree
69: has not yet been cut into modules, but for the GP specific functions).
70:
71: II) Many new or improved functions in the PARI library.
72:
73: * MANY class-field related functions. In particular:
74: - is it now possible to try and remove the GRH assumption on class group
75: computations.
76: - ray class groups computations (including discrete log).
77: - explicit defining equations in simple cases (Kummer extensions of prime
78: degree, quadratic base field).
79:
80: * roots is now entirely reliable, thanks to Xavier Gourdon.
81:
82: * some core routines have been optimized: Karatsuba fast multiplication,
83: a specific function gsqr() for squarings (twice as fast as
84: gmul(x,x) in the most favourable cases),...
85:
86: * input/output is much more flexible now:
87: - a function GENtostring has been added, generalizing gitoascii to any
88: PARI object (with a simpler syntax: GENtostring(g) returns a malloced
89: string containing g as gp would print it).
90:
91: - lisexpr has a relative flisexpr (for filtered lisexpr), which enables
92: you to use input containing whitespaces.
93:
94: - you can use GENs in formatted output, a la printf.
95:
96: * improved garbage collecting.
97:
98: * private variables can be created without an explicit lisexpr(), using
99: fetch_var() and delete_var().
100:
101: III) GP has been completely re-written:
102:
103: * lowercaps/uppercaps are now significant. All predefined constants
104: (Euler, I, Pi) have been renamed (as well, the o() notation for series
105: and padics has been superseded by O()).
106:
107: for (i=1,10, print(i)) will not yield an error anymore.
108:
109: * human-readable error messages, including a caret to indicate where
110: a GP syntax error occured.
111:
112: * function names were renamed according to a more logical scheme. The
113: file new.dico provides a translation (available under GP using "whatnow")
114:
115: * You can retrieve basic information from complicated objects using member
116: functions (you cannot define your own, though). For instance x.disc will
117: yield the discriminant of x, whether it was created by nfinit (aka
118: initalg), bnfinit (aka buchinit), ellinit (aka initell).
119:
120: * A .gprc file is available to set "permanent" defaults (such as
121: global variables, aliases, common functions, etc...). For instance,
122: you can put all your scripts in some special directories, and
123: point them out to GP using "path". See misc/gprc.dft for examples.
124:
125: The function "default" enables to change most defaults under gp.
126: For instance: default(compatible,2) will give you back the former gp
127: function names and helpmessages. (default(compatible,3) undoes the
128: lowercaps/uppercaps changes as well). Try "default".
129:
130: * the basic C idiosyncrasies such as for instance i++ (for i=i+1), i<<1
131: (for left shift) or i+=j (for i=i+j) are now allowed within GP scripts.
132: /* */ multi-line comments are understood.
133:
134: * lists and (primitive) string support have been added. Characters can be
135: quoted with the usual meaning. For instance, try
136: default(prompt,"\e[1mgp\e[m > ")
137:
138: As a result, set functions can now be used with arbitrary elements.
139:
140: * if your terminal supports color (variants of color_xterm for instance),
141: you can tell GP to highlight its output in different (user configurable)
142: colors. This is done by fiddling with the default "colors".
143:
144: * The familiar functions "break", "next" and "return" are now available.
145: These should supersede the buggy label/goto provided in old versions
146: of GP.
147:
148: * somewhat enhanced on-line help. Even more: if you have perl on your
149: system, try ?? function-name (?? bnfinit for instance). This is provided
150: by external scripts which can be used independently, outside of any GP
151: session.
152:
153: * If readline is installed on your system, a context-dependent completion
154: (not yet user-programmable) is now available (try hitting <TAB> here and
155: there). Try ?? readline.
156:
157: * many functions now have default arguments (shown between braces {} in
158: the on-line description). gp first reads user-supplied arguments, and
159: then fills in the arg list with these default values. Optional args can
160: be entirely omitted, comma included (for a function with no mandatory
161: arguments, even parentheses are optional !). For instance:
162:
163: Mat = Mat()
164: bnfclassunit(x^2+1,0) = bnfclassunit(x^2+1)
165: bnfclassunit(x^2+1,,[0.2,0.2]) = bnfclassunit(x^2+1,0,[0.2,0.2])
166:
167: The "else" part of the "if" function can be entirely omitted.
168: if (a,1) is now correct; of course, the former syntax if (a,1,) is
169: still valid.
170:
171: * functions "extern" and "system" have been added to interface with
172: external programs (UNIX only). You can do for instance
173: extern("myprog"), or system("ls -l *.gp").
174:
175: * even better, "install" enables you to load any function provided by
176: a dynamically linked library, and have the GP interpreter use it. This
177: makes it easy to have your own customized version of GP with your own set
178: of functions on startup (you can document them using "addhelp").
179:
180: * On 32-bit machines, maximum number of variables has been increased from
181: 254 to 16382. Arrays can have up to 16777215 elements (instead of 65535).
182: In addition vector/matrix operations in GP now perform orders of
183: magnitudes faster than in version 1.39
184:
185: =============================================================================
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