NESL release 3.1 (November, 1995)

Once copied over to your machine, it can be unpacked by running:

gunzip -c nesl.tar.gz | tar -xf -

nesl

Useful information

To be added to the NESL mailing list send e-mail to nesl-request@cs.cmu.edu .

Implementation A back end that uses MPI, so it now runs on any machine that supports MPI. A lightweight NESL interpreter. This is useful for debugging code or when using NESL to teach parallel algorithms. Precompiled executables for the interpreter are available for a variety of machines.

LANGUAGE Extensions Passing functions as arguments. A new graphics interface (demo) Many new functions.



BUILD Directions on how to build NESL COPYRIGHT Copyright information Makefile Used for building the release README This file bin/ runnesl The NESL executable vinterp.* The VCODE interpreter, for various architectures xneslplot X11 interface used for NESL graphics foreground.* Scripts for executing VCODE from NESL in the foreground background.* Scripts for executing VCODE from NESL in the foreground cvl/ cm2/ Source code for the CM-2 version of CVL cm5/ Source code for the CM-5 version of CVL cray/ Source code for the CRAY version of CVL mpi/ Source code for the MPI version of CVL serial/ Source code for the serial version of CVL doc/ cvl.ps The CVL manual manual.ps The NESL manual user.ps The NESL user's guide vcode-ref.ps The VCODE manual emacs/ NESL editing mode for GNU Emacs examples/ Collection of NESL examples include/ cvl.h include file lib/ libcvl.a The CVL library neslseqsrc/ Source code for stand-alone NESL neslsrc/ Source code for NESL release.notes List of changes since the last release utils/ Source code for xneslplot vcode/ Source code for the VCODE interpreter

Run make from the top-level NESL directory. This builds CVL, VCODE, and xneslplot, leaving vinterp.serial and xneslplot in the bin directory.

from the top-level NESL directory. This builds CVL, VCODE, and xneslplot, leaving and in the directory. Start a Common Lisp (either GNU, Allegro, CMU, or Lucid) in the top-level Nesl directory, and enter: (load "neslsrc/build.lisp")

Follow the instructions for dumping an executable version of Nesl. This will create a file "bin/runnesl", which can be executed directly to start up Nesl.

Here is a list of machine/OS/compiler combinations we have tested VCODE with:

Cray {C90,J90}/Unicos 8.0.x/cc 4.0.x CM-5/CMMD 3.0/gcc 2.6.3 CM-5/CMMD 3.0/gcc 2.6.3 (MPICH 1.0.8) Paragon/OSF 1.2.7/icc (MPICH 1.0.11) Alpha/OSF 2.0/gcc 2.6.3 (MPICH 1.0.9) Sparc/SunOS 4.1.3/gcc 2.7.0 (MPICH 1.0.11) Sparc/SunOS 4.1.3/{gcc 2.6.3,cc} Sparc/Solaris/gcc 2.6.3 RS6000/AIX 3.2.5/gcc 2.6.3

(load "load.lisp") (nesl)

[Nesl]

The graphics routines

Tracing facilities

Profiling facilities

The spawn function

In this sequential version, top level expressions and function definitions are translated to lisp, compiled using the Common Lisp compiler, and then executed. A NESL file can be loaded, translated to lisp and compiled into an object file, so that subsequent loads of the file will be significantly faster.

This version has been tested on Allegro Common Lisp, CMU Common Lisp and gcl, with most testing being done on Allegro. It is expected to run on Kyoto and Lucid common lisps, and on clisp. Although we have done a reasonable job testing it, it is likely not to be as robust as the VCODE version.

Source code. The Common Lisp source code can also be obtained from the above site via anonymous ftp. The compressed tar file is nesl.seq.tar.gz.

The Common Lisp source code can also be obtained from the above site via anonymous ftp. The compressed tar file is nesl.seq.tar.gz. Binaries. The predumped compressed binaries of sequential NESL for Sparcs and AIX machines are also available. If you would like a pointer to them, send a message to nesl-request@cs.cmu.edu .

Overall the VCODE-based sequential implementation of NESL is very reliable and we have found few bugs in the past year, even though we have had many users. The Cray C90 version is also quite reliable. The MPI version is a little less stable, largely because MPI implementations are changing at a rapid rate.

blelloch@cs.cmu.edu. Last updated 28 Nov 1995