The original version of pml (Portable Math Library) was written several years ago, when I was just learning C and trying to switch most of my work for engineering classes from Fortran to C. I quickly ran into problems with portability, missing functions, compiler bugs, etc, etc, etc. Considering I was using some pretty primitive stuff at the time, it's a wonder anything worked! Anyway, pml came about from pressures to get something that would work in a number of environments and also as a learning tool as to how floating point libraries worked. I don't claim to be a numerical analyst, then or now, but I did learn a lot writing this stuff (including how to write in C). Several times I have started to go back and redo the library to use newer C features, make it compatible with the Unix version, etc. For example, the original C compilers I had access to could not pass structures, just pointers to structures, which made for some pretty ugly code. Changing the code to pass a 'complex' structure cleaned it up a lot. Given several aborted attempts to redo the whole thing (aborted due to lack of motivation and/or time), it's now in somewhat of a mess, and probably inconsistent in several areas. Still, someone might find it useful, or even be motivated enough to carry on with it, given this code as a base. So, in the hopes that someone will 'adopt' pml, and make it their pet, I've decided to post my most current code, and relinquish all rights to it. I.E., make it truly public domain, rather than simply freely redistributable. Hints for adoptive parents: 1. Much of the documentation and internal comments is now either wrong, misleading, or both. Beware. 2. Most C functions use pieces from various iterations of my macro based debugging package. For example, the LEAVE() macro hasn't been used directly in years... You should either chuck this stuff wholesale, or convert it to use my latest version (posted on the net some months ago). 3. The implementation of functions like 'inverse complex hyperbolic arccosine' may very well be numerically naive. 4. This is your baby now, don't ask me how to change its diapers. I wouldn't mind getting pictures now and then though. :-) :-) Below is the original README file, for reference. Fred Fish 10-Apr-87 ====================================================================== PML --- Portable Math Library for C programs. This directory contains the PML math library distribution. Since it is intended to be a highly portable library, useful on a wide variety of machines, no installation command files are provided. It is assumed that the installer is sufficiently knowledgeable to successfully install the library given the following general guidelines: (1) The constants in "pml.h" must be suitably defined for the environment in which the library is to be used. (2) The appropriate environment #define variable is defined somewhere, either within the preprocessor itself, in <stdio.h>, is added to "pml.h", or is included on the compiler invocation command line. For example, "#define PDP10" or "#define pdp11". (3) The file "pmluser.h" is moved to the global header file directory, so that an "#include <pmluser.h>" will be properly processed. (4) All of the library source files are compiled. (5) The furnished test routines are compiled, linked with the library routines, and executed. This library currently runs essentially unchanged on a wide variety of machines, under a wide variety of operating systems. Known installations include PDP-11s running RSX-11M and using the DECUS C system, DECSYSTEM-20 running TOPS-20 using an MIT C compiler, Callan Data Systems 68000 system running Uniplus (Unix port from Unisoft), and an IBM Personal Computer running PC-DOS using a CII C compiler. If you know of any others, please let me know. Fred Fish