faqs.html.svn-base

OPT++

/** \page FAQS Frequently Asked Questions 

<UL>
<LI> <a href="#Support">Support</a>
	<OL>
	<LI> <a href="#S1"> Do you support the Visual C++ environment? </a> 
	<LI> <a href="#S2"> Do you support the Macintosh environment? </a> 
	<LI> <a href="#S3"> Do you accept contributions to the package? </a> 
	</OL>

<LI> <a href="#General">General</a>
	<OL> 
	<LI> <a href="#G1">How do I use OPT++ as an intermediate engine/subroutine? 
	</a>
	<LI> <a href="#G2">How do I completely deactivate output tracing?</a>
	<LI> <a href="#G3">Is the code thread safe?</a>
        <LI> <a href="#G4"> Are you going to add support for using function objects 
	instead of functions for objective functions and their derivative arrays?</a>
	</OL> 

<LI> <a href="#Constraints">Constraints</a>
	<OL> 
	<LI> <a href="#C1"> The constraints in my problem are 
	differential equations. How do I represent them in OPT++? </a>
	<LI> <a href="#C2"> I have nonlinear constraints in my problem, 
	which optimizer do you recommend? </a>
	<LI> <a href="#C3"> I have linear constraints in my problem, 
	which optimizer do you recommend? </a>
	</OL>

<LI> <a href="#Parallelism">Parallelism</a>
	<OL> 
	<LI> <a href="#P1">How do I solve a problem, in parallel, on a 
	cluster of workstations?</a>
	</OL> 
</UL> 

<hr WIDTH="100%">
<H3> <a NAME= "Support">Support</a></H3>

<OL>
<LI><b><a NAME="S1"> Do you support the Visual C++ environment? </a></b><p> 
 
We do not support the Visual C++ environment.  We've had some mixed results
porting OPT++ to this environment.  If you are able to port to Visual C++
please send the patches to the development team and we will include it
in the next OPT++ release.
<p>

<LI><b><a NAME="S2"> Do you support the Macintosh environment? </a></b><p> 
A MAC OSX port is available in OPT++2.4.
<p>
<LI><b><a NAME="S3"> Do you accept contributions to the package? </a></b><p> 
Yes. We gladly welcome new algorithmic and functional capabilities to share 
with our users.  If you port the package to a new platform, please share the 
configuration files with us for future distribution. 
<p>
All correspondence should be directed to the <A
HREF="mailto:[e-mail]">OPT++ Development
Team</A>.
  
<p>

</OL>
<hr WIDTH="100%">
<H3> <a NAME= "General">General</a></H3>

<OL>
<LI><b><a NAME="G1">How do I use OPT++ as an intermediate engine/subroutine? 
	</a></b><p>
In the documentation, there are instructions for setting up a main routine 
that "drives" OPT++.  The examples in the "Setting up and Solving an 
Optimization Problem" section will probably be the most helpful.  If you 
follow these instructions, but make a subroutine that's called by your 
program (instead of a main routine), that should do the trick.  You may have 
to initialize the function differently than what's described in the 
documentation.  And, finally , you will also have to link the OPT++ libraries 
into your program.
<p>

<LI><b><a NAME="G2"> How do I completely deactivate output tracing?</a></b><p>

Currently, there is no mechanism to completely deactivate the output tracing.
In the meantime, double check to be sure that the "setDebug()" method hasn't
been called in your main routine.  It if has, removing it will notably reduce
the amount of output tracing.
<p>

<LI><b><a NAME="G3"> Is the code thread safe?</a></b><p>

There are no guarantees on thread safety, but we intend to address that issue.
The serial version is probably OK, though there might be some file I/O issues.
The parallel version is only as thread safe as the MPI implementation that is
used.
<p>

<LI><b><a NAME="G4"> Are you going to add support for using function objects 
instead of functions for objective functions and their derivative arrays?</a></b><p>

This is an interesting enhancement and we would gladly include the feature
in OPT++ if you or someone else wanted to contribute the code.  It is not
a high priority for the OPT++ development team, so it is unlikely that we
would write the code for such a feature in the near future.
<p>
</OL>

<hr WIDTH="100%">
<H3> <a NAME= "Constraints">Constraints</a></H3>

<OL>
<LI><b><a NAME="C1"> The constraints in my problem are 
	differential equations. How do I represent them in OPT++? </a></b><p>

You will have to write a subroutine to solve your differential equations.
<p>
<LI><b><a NAME="C2"> I have nonlinear constraints in my problem, 
	which optimizer do you recommend? </a></b><p>

I recommend the NIPS family of optimizers.  If you have analytic first and
second derivatives, use OptNIPS.  If you have analytic first derivatives, 
use OptQNIPS.  If you don't have analytic derivatives, use OptFDNIPS.
<p>
<LI><b><a NAME="C3"> I have linear constraints in my problem, 
	which optimizer do you recommend? </a></b><p>

The NIPS family of optimizers are the only ones which can handle linear constraints.
If you have analytic derivatives and analytic Hessian, use OptNIPS.  If you have
analytic derivatives, use OptQNIPS.  If you don't have analytic derivatives, use
OptFDNIPS.
<p>
</OL>

<hr WIDTH="100%">
<H3> <a NAME= "Parallelism">Parallelism</a></H3>

<OL>
<LI><b><a NAME="P1"> How do I solve a problem, in parallel, on a 
	cluster of workstations?</a></b><p>

In your main routine, you need to initialize MPI at the beginning and finalize
MPI at the end.  Also, you want to set up your output filename such
that it is unique for each process.  (Or, if your function requires file I/0, you
should set up a unique working directory for each process.) Otherwise, you 
may not be able to decipher the output, and there could be conflicts between the
processes when trying to access the file.  Then, use mpirun to execute your program.
<p>
</OL>

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Last revised <em> May 1, 2007</em>

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