CS 615:
Numerical Methods for
Partial Differential Equations
I've written an overview of what I hope
the course will be like.
We'll write software using:
-
popov.math.purdue.edu, a dual-processor, 500 MHz Alpha 21264, with 2 Gbytes
of memory. It's running Red Hat 6.0 Linux, gcc 2.95.2, and the latest
version of the Compaq C compiler. I'll arrange for everyone to get an account.
-
(a hacked version of) Gambit-C
3.0, a Scheme->C compiler with runtime and interpreter, written by
Marc Feeley. You can find the documentation here
-
Meroon, a CLOS-like
object-oriented system for Scheme written by Christian Queinnec.
You can find the documentation here.
I've written some software that can be used in finite-element
methods; you will be expected to use and extend it during the course.
(Update: the software now contains contributions from the students of CS
615.) It's not complete, it doesn't even seem to all work, but it's
a start. Also, see my notes about things
that may be important about setting up your account on popov.
If you've never written a program in Scheme before, I suggest you study
The
Schematics of Computation by Manis and Little. The object-oriented
system they introduce in the book is quite different from Meroon, but the
rest of it will be helpful. The University Bookstore at Grant and
State has five copies of the book available, and I'm sure they'll order
more if necessary. Be prepared to start programming soon.
I've added a list of subprojects that
might give you ideas about what to do to contribute to the large
project.
A list of reference books on reserve in the Mathematics Library can
be found here.
New: I've written an abstract of a
talk about the software developed in this project.
New: The version of Meroon that we use in the course is
now available.