2.1. Suggested Reading

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The manual is divided into three parts:


Part I describes the basic procedure for using the PETSc library and presents two simple examples of solving linear systems with PETSc. This section conveys the typical style used throughout the library and enables the application programmer to begin using the software immediately. Part I is also distributed separately for individuals interested in an overview of the PETSc software, excluding the details of library usage. Readers of this separate distribution of Part I should note that all references within the text to particular chapters and sections indicate locations in the complete users manual.

Part II explains in detail the use of the various PETSc components, such as vectors, matrices, index sets, linear and nonlinear solvers, and graphics. Part III describes a variety of useful information, including profiling, the options database, viewers, error handling, makefiles, and some details of PETSc design.

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The PETSc 2.0 Users Manual documents all of PETSc 2.0; thus, it can be rather intimidating for new users. We recommend that one initially read the entire document before proceeding with serious use of PETSc, but bear in mind that PETSc can be used efficiently before one understands all of the material presented here.

Within the PETSc distribution, the directory ${}PETSC_DIR/docs contains all documentation. Manual pages for all PETSc functions can be accessed on line at

  ${PETSC_DIR}/docs/manualpages/index.html 
The manual pages provide hyperlinked indices (organized by both concepts and routine names) to the tutorial examples and enable easy movement among related topics.

Emacs users may find the etags option to be extremely useful for exploring the PETSc source code. Details of this feature are provided in Section Emacs Users .

The file manual.ps contains the PostScript form of the PETSc 2.0 Users Manual in its entirety, while intro.ps includes only the introductory segment, Part I. The file Installation contains detailed instructions for installing PETSc. The complete PETSc distribution, users manual, manual pages, and additional information are also available via the PETSc home page at http://www.mcs.anl.gov/petsc. The PETSc home page also contains details regarding installation, new features and changes in recent versions of PETSc, machines that we currently support, a troubleshooting guide, and a FAQ list for frequently asked questions.

Note to Fortran Programmers: In most of the manual, the examples and calling sequences are given for the C/C++ family of programming languages. We follow this convention because we recommend that PETSc applications be coded in C or C++. However, pure Fortran programmers can use most of the functionality of PETSc from Fortran, with only minor differences in the user interface. Chapter PETSc Fortran Users provides a discussion of the differences between using PETSc from Fortran and C, as well as several complete Fortran examples. This chapter also introduces some routines that support direct use of Fortran90 pointers.


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