dolfin team mailing list archive

[Anders Logg <logg@xxxxxxxxx>]

The short description looks good. For the long description, how about
using the following slightly modified text from the DOLFIN web page
(just updated).  By listing some of the key features, people doing an
'apt-cache search' on one of the features are more likely to find the
package.

/Anders

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DOLFIN is the C++ interface of the FEniCS project for the Automation of
Computational Mathematical Modeling (ACMM), providing a consistent PSE
(Problem Solving Environment) for solving ordinary and partial differential
equations.

Key features of DOLFIN include:

  * Simple, consistent and intuitive object-oriented API
  * Automatic and efficient evaluation of variational forms through FFC
  * Automatic and efficient assembly of linear systems
  * Support for general families of finite elements, including continuous
    and discontinuous Lagrange finite elements of arbitrary order on
    triangles and tetrahedra through FIAT
  * High-performance parallel linear algebra through PETSc with simple
    C++ wrappers
  * Triangular and tetrahedral meshes, including adaptive mesh refinement
    and mesh hierarchies
  * Multi-adaptive mcG(q)/mdG(q) and mono-adaptive cG(q)/dG(q) ODE solvers
  * Support for a range of output formats for post-processing, including
    DOLFIN XML, MATLAB, Octave, OpenDX, GiD, Tecplot and Paraview/VTK

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On Thu, Jul 07, 2005 at 12:15:45AM -0400, Faheem Mitha wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Please comment on the following as a description of DOLFIN.
> 
> I need
> 
> a) A short description (under 80 chars). How about
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> C++ library for solving ordinary and partial differential equations.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> b) An extended description. The short and extended description are 
> independent. How about
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> DOLFIN is the C++ interface of the FEniCS project in Computational 
> Mathematical Modeling, providing a consistent PSE (Problem Solving 
> Environment) for solving ordinary and partial differential equations.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> The extended description does not have a length limit. Here are the 
> guidelines for the extended description.
> 
> *******************************************************************
> The description should describe the package (the program) to a user 
> (system administrator) who has never met it before so that they have 
> enough information to decide whether they want to install it. This 
> description should not just be copied verbatim from the program's 
> documentation.
> 
> Put important information first, both in the synopsis and extended 
> description. Sometimes only the first part of the synopsis or of the 
> description will be displayed. You can assume that there will usually be a 
> way to see the whole extended description.
> 
> The description should also give information about the significant 
> dependencies and conflicts between this package and others, so that the 
> user knows why these dependencies and conflicts have been declared.
> 
> Instructions for configuring or using the package should not be included 
> (that is what installation scripts, manual pages, info files, etc., are 
> for). Copyright statements and other administrivia should not be included 
> either (that is what the copyright file is for). 
> ************************************************************************
> 
> I don't think that my attempts are satisfactory, so I'm going to be lazy 
> and ask the developers for suggestions. Bear in mind this description is 
> intended for a non-specialist audience.
> 
> Thanks.                                                   Faheem.
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> DOLFIN-dev@xxxxxxxxxx
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> 

-- 
Anders Logg
Research Assistant Professor
Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago
http://www.tti-c.org/logg/