[Coin-announce] COIN-OR Hosting of CppAD

[Brad Bell]

Announcement
============
Algorithmic Differentiation (AD) is the step by step conversion from an 
algorithm that computes functions values to an algorithm that computes 
derivative values. The C++ Algorithmic Differentiation package CppAD is 
now hosted by COIN-OR. This package include both forward and reverse 
mode derivatives of arbitrary order in a manner similar to the ADOLC 
package. In addition, it allows for multiple levels of algorithmic 
differentiation; i.e., the calculation of derivatives can be part of an 
algorithm that is then differentiated. Some of the examples and speed 
comparisons demonstrate how the same source code can be used with 
multiple AD packages (CppAD, ADOLC and FADBAD in particular).

A Getting Started example, as well as extensive documentation and 
examples, are provided in both HTML and XML (the XML version has the 
mathematics converted to MathML). The current version of the package is 
distributed via the COIN-OR download page as the tarball CppAD-yy-mm-dd 
where yy is the year, mm is the month, and dd is the day. Installation 
instructions are available for both Unix and Windows platforms.

Each feature of CppAD has an automated test (there are over 150 such 
automated test routines). These automated tests make it easy to test the 
correctness of CppAD after changes to the code. You are encouraged to 
get involved with the development and improvement of CppAD either as a 
user or as a developer. In addition to the mailing list, you should feel 
free to contact the project manager (Brad Bell) directly.

Related Links
=============
Getting Started example   
http://www.coin-or.org/CppAD/Doc/getstarted.cpp.htm
Installation and Testing  http://www.coin-or.org/CppAD/Doc/install.htm
Project Page              http://www.coin-or.org/CppAD
Mailing List              http://list.coin-or.org/mailman/listinfo/CppAD
Project Manager           http://www.seanet.com/~bradbell/
COIN-OR Download Page     http://www.coin-or.org/Tarballs/
HTML Documentation        http://www.coin-or.org/CppAD/Doc/index.htm
XML Documentation         http://www.coin-or.org/CppAD/Doc/index.xml
MathML web site           http://www.w3.org/Math/
AD web site               http://www.autodiff.org
COIN-OR home page         http://www.coin-or.org
ADOLC project page        http://www.math.tu-dresden.de/~adol-c/
FADBAD project page       http://www.imm.dtu.dk/fadbad.html