NAG Library for SMP and Multicore, Mark 24

FSW3224DCL - License Managed

Microsoft Windows, Intel Fortran

Users' Note



Contents


1. Introduction

This document is essential reading for every user of the NAG Library for SMP and Multicore implementation specified in the title. It provides implementation-specific detail that augments the information provided in the NAG Mark 24 Library Manual (which we will refer to as the Library Manual). Wherever that manual refers to the "Users' Note for your implementation", you should consult this note.

In addition, NAG recommends that before calling any Library routine you should read the following reference material (see Section 5):

(a) Essential Introduction
(b) Chapter Introduction
(c) Routine Document

The libraries supplied with this implementation have been compiled in a manner that facilitates the use of multiple threads.

1.1. Restrictions

As with earlier Marks of the NAG Library for SMP and Multicore for Win32, the Compaq Visual Fortran calling convention is used (ifort /iface:cvf). In essence this means that parameters are accessed by reference. Character strings are passed as address/length pairs (i.e. /iface:mixed_str_len_arg, which is automatically turned on if /iface:cvf is specified).

Fortran 90/95/2003 users are advised that the compiled *.mod files (the interface blocks) have been compiled with the Intel Fortran Compiler 13.0 and are intended for use with that compiler. Users may have to compile the interface blocks themselves if they wish to use them with a different compiler.

When the DLL is used with a non-Intel compiler, please note that two input/output systems are in use: those of Intel for library routines and of course the compiler's own input/output routines for the calling program. This means that programs like the E04UDF example program cannot read the data from just one file. This is because the program reads some of the data using its input/output system. When the option setting routine tries to read the data file, the Intel input/output routines are used. The two input/output systems are completely disjoint and so in particular Intel has no knowledge of the position in the data file that the program input/output system has reached. The problem is circumvented by having two separate data files. Routines affected by this are mainly the option setting routines in chapters H02 and E04.

2. Post Release Information

Please check the following URL:

http://www.nag.co.uk/doc/inun/fs24/w32dcl/postrelease.html

for details of any new information related to the applicability or usage of this implementation.

3. General Information

3.1. Accessing the Library

In this section we assume that the Library has been installed in the default folder:
  c:\Program Files\NAG\FS24\fsw3224dcl
If this folder does not exist, please consult the system manager (or the person who did the installation). In some of the following subsections, this folder is referred to as install dir.

We also assume that the default shortcut for the Library command prompt is placed in the Start Menu under:

  Start|All Programs|NAG|FS24|NAG Library for SMP and Multicore
    (FSW3224DCL)|FSW3224DCL Command Prompt

If this shortcut does not exist, please consult the system manager (or the person who did the installation). (Other shortcuts created as part of the Library installation procedure are also assumed to be in this location.)

(Under Windows 8, the shortcuts appear under the list of all applications. To find this, right-click on the background of the Start screen and select All apps from the bottom right hand corner of the screen. The shortcuts are listed under the NAG section.)

To ensure that the NAG DLL (FSW3224DC.dll) is accessible at run time, the install dir\bin folder must be on the path. The install dir\MKL_ia32_11.0\bin folder must also be on the path, but should appear later in the path than the install dir\bin folder, since the NAG versions of a few Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (BLAS) / Linear Algebra PACKage (LAPACK) routines are included in the NAG Libraries to avoid problems with the vendor versions. (See Section 4 for details.)

To check the accessibility of the NAG DLL, run the program NAG_Fortran_DLL_info.exe which is available from the Start Menu shortcut

  Start|All Programs|NAG|FS24|NAG Library for SMP and Multicore
    (FSW3224DCL)|Check NAG DLL Accessibility for FSW3224DCL
See Section 4.2.3 of the Installer's Note for details of this utility.

See Section 3.1.1.1 below for information on setting environment variables from a command prompt. The PATH, LIB and INCLUDE environment variables may already have been set globally as part of the installation or this may be done via the Control Panel. (On Windows XP, from Control Panel select System | Advanced | Environment Variables; on Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 from the Control Panel home select System and Maintenance (on Vista) / System and Security (on Windows 7 or Windows 8), then System | Advanced System Settings | Environment Variables... .) Either the user variables or the system variables may be edited, although Administrator privileges will be required to edit the system ones. Edit the PATH environment variable to include

  c:\Program Files\NAG\FS24\fsw3224dcl\batch;
  c:\Program Files\NAG\FS24\fsw3224dcl\bin;
  c:\Program Files\NAG\FS24\fsw3224dcl\MKL_ia32_11.0\bin;
  existing path
add or edit the LIB environment variable to include
  c:\Program Files\NAG\FS24\fsw3224dcl\lib;
  any existing library path
add or edit the INCLUDE environment variable to include
  c:\Program Files\NAG\FS24\fsw3224dcl\nag_interface_blocks;
  any existing include path
substituting the correct folder where the NAG Fortran DLL is installed if necessary.

In the DLL in this implementation, for convenience, the MKL symbols are exported directly from the NAG import library FSW3224DC.lib, so it is not necessary to specify the MKL interface library mkl_rt.lib as well. However, if the MKL interface library is specified, it is important that the NAG import library precedes it, i.e. the order should be

  FSW3224DC.lib mkl_rt.lib
because certain parts of the MKL should not be used (see Section 4).

Note that it is particularly important when compiling a user-supplied procedure which is to be passed to a NAG routine as a callback function to make sure that any local variables in the procedure are safe for use in a parallel environment. This is because the callback may be called from inside a parallel region in the NAG library. In particular, you should ensure that local variables are not statically allocated, but are created dynamically on entry to the procedure and destroyed on exit. It may be necessary to use compiler-dependent switches to make this happen. Also, you should avoid the use of any compiler switches with names like -save that cause local variables to be statically allocated, since this is the opposite of what is required.

Information on calling the NAG Fortran DLL from various different environments is given below. More information on calling NAG Fortran or C DLLs is available on the NAG web site at

  http://www.nag.co.uk/numeric/Num_DLLhelp.asp
More information specific to this product may be available from the Post Release Information page:

http://www.nag.co.uk/doc/inun/fs24/w32dcl/postrelease.html

3.1.0. Setting the number of threads to use

Set the environment variable OMP_NUM_THREADS to the number of processors required, up to maximum available on your system, e.g. in a command window type:
  set OMP_NUM_THREADS=N
where N is the number of threads required. OMP_NUM_THREADS may be re-set between each execution of the program, as desired. It may be set globally via the Control Panel.

In general, the maximum number of threads you are recommended to use is the number of physical cores on your SMP system.

3.1.1. Calling the Library from Intel Fortran

The NAG Library for SMP and Multicore has been built using the version of Intel Fortran described in the Installer's Note. To call the library from a program compiled with a different version of Intel Fortran, you may need to move or rename the files libifcoremd.dll, libmmd.dll and svml_dispmd.dll in the install dir\bin folder, so that the correct Intel Fortran runtime DLLs are picked up. To facilitate this, the batch file hide_ifort_rtls.bat has been provided in the install dir\bin folder. This file will rename the Intel Fortran run-time libraries libifcoremd.dll, libmmd.dll and svml_dispmd.dll in that folder. The file expose_ifort_rtls.bat, also in that folder, is provided to convert the names back again. (Note that appropriate access permissions may need to be in place for these batch files to work.)

3.1.1.1. From a command window

To access this implementation from a command window some environment variables need to be set.

The shortcut:

  Start|All Programs|NAG|FS24|NAG Library for SMP and Multicore
    (FSW3224DCL)|FSW3224DCL Command Prompt

may be used to start a command prompt window with the correct settings for the INCLUDE, LIB and PATH environment variables for the Library and the supplied MKL.

If the shortcut is not used, you can set the environment variables by running the batch file envvars.bat for this implementation. The default location of this file is:

  c:\Program Files\NAG\FS24\fsw3224dcl\batch\envvars.bat
If the file is not in the default location, you can locate it by searching for the file envvars.bat containing fsw3224dcl.

You may then compile and link to the NAG Library on the command line using one of the following commands:

  ifort /iface:cvf /MD /Qopenmp driver.f90 FSW3224DC.lib
  ifort /iface:cvf /MD /Qopenmp driver.f90 FSW3224DC_static.lib mkl_rt.lib user32.lib
where driver.f90 is your application program.

The first command will use the DLL version of the NAG Library. It is not necessary to add the path to the MKL import libraries here, since the BLAS and LAPACK symbols are exported from the NAG import library (FSW3224DC.lib) in this instance. (Note that this behaviour may be different from some other NAG library implementations.)

The second command will use the static version of the NAG Library. It is also necessary to add the MKL import library mkl_rt.lib here, as well as the Microsoft run-time library user32.lib.

Notice that in both cases we compile using the /iface:cvf compiler flag. This tells the compiler that we wish to use the CVF calling convention. We also use the /MD compiler flag. This tells the compiler that we wish to link to multi-threaded DLL versions of compiler run-time libraries. Both these flags are important to ensure compatibility with this implementation of the NAG Library for SMP and Multicore. If you do not use them - particularly /iface:cvf - it is likely that your programs will fail to run correctly.

The /Qopenmp flag tells the compiler to heed any OpenMP directives that may be present in your own code. It also causes the linker to link to the compiler threading library, libiomp5md.lib.

Please note that the Intel Visual Fortran compiler environment variables must be set in the command window. Also note that the /Qopenmp compiler switch implies /Qauto and therefore ensures that local variables are not statically allocated, as discussed in Section Section 3.1.1.1. For more details refer to the Users' Guide for the compiler.

3.1.1.2. From MS Visual Studio

The instructions given here are for Visual Studio 2005/2008/2010/2012 with Intel Fortran Compiler 13.0. Other versions may vary.

To ensure that the NAG DLL is accessible at runtime, the PATH environment variable must be set such that the location of the NAG DLL, specifically the folder install dir\bin, is on the path. The location of the MKL DLLs, install dir\MKL_ia32_11.0\bin must also be on the path, but should appear after the install dir\bin folder.

Once Visual Studio has been opened, it is possible to set up the directories for use with Intel Fortran in this and all subsequent projects which use this compiler. One way to do so is:

  1. Select the Tools pull down menu, and click on Options.

  2. In the Options window, click on Intel Fortran (or Intel Visual Fortran) and then choose Compilers in the left window pane. (In some versions of Visual Studio you may need to click on Show all settings to see the Intel compiler options.) With newer versions of the Intel compiler, click on Intel Composer XE, then select Visual Fortran and then choose Compilers.

  3. In the right window pane, click on the '...' to the right of the Libraries panel.

  4. Add the path to the NAG DLL import library to the Set Directory List window. The default location is:
      c:\Program Files\NAG\FS24\fsw3224dcl\lib
    

  5. In this implementation, there is no need to add the path to the MKL import libraries, since the BLAS and LAPACK symbols are exported from the NAG import library (FSW3224DC.lib). (Note that this behaviour may be different from some other NAG library implementations.) However, any MKL library folders in the Libraries path must come after the path to the NAG Library, as it is important that these are not picked up before the NAG Library, as explained in Section 3.1.

  6. Click on the OK button in the Set Directory List window.

  7. In the right window pane, click on the '...' to the right of the Includes panel.

  8. Add the path to the NAG interface blocks to the Set Directory List window. The default location is:
      c:\Program Files\NAG\FS24\fsw3224dcl\nag_interface_blocks
    

  9. Click on the OK button in the Set Directory List window.

  10. Click on the OK button in the Options window.

Having done this, if an Intel Fortran project requires a library or NAG interface block during the compilation and linking process then the full path to the library and interface block do not need to be specified.

Whilst the above changes will apply to every Intel Fortran project, the following tasks need to be performed for each individual Intel Fortran project.

The library is intended to be run in fully optimised mode, so to avoid any warning messages, you might decide to set the active configuration to Release. You can do this from the Toolbar or alternatively via the Build|Configuration Manager menus. Note that if you work in Debug mode, you may receive a warning message about conflicting C run-time libraries.

The following steps show how to add the NAG Library to the project:

  1. Open the Property Pages for the project. There are several ways of doing this including:

  2. From the form, click/expand Linker in the leftmost panel and then choose Input. The right hand panel will now have an Additional Dependencies entry, and you need to type FSW3224DC_static.lib mkl_rt.lib user32.lib in this location to use the static version of the NAG Library. Please note that the three libraries are separated by a space only and that FSW3224DC_static.lib must be the first one. Click on the Apply button to accept the changes. Similarly, if you wish to use the DLL version of the NAG Library then you need to add FSW3224DC.lib instead of the three libraries above.

  3. You will also need to set the calling convention to "CVF". From the Properties form, click/expand Fortran and then choose External Procedures. Click on the Calling Convention entry in the right hand panel and select CVF from the drop-down list. Selecting this option will automatically change the entry for String Length Argument Passing to After Individual String Argument. Click on the Apply button to accept the changes. This is the convention required by this implementation of the NAG Library.

  4. Before you can compile the project you need to specify the correct run-time library needed. From the Properties form, click/expand Fortran in the leftmost panel and then choose Libraries. The right hand panel will now have a Runtime Library entry, and you need to select Multithreaded DLL. After you select the correct run-time library click on the Apply button to accept the changes.

    As described earlier when compiling from the command line, you should also tell the compiler to use the /Qopenmp switch. From the Properties form, click/expand Fortran in the leftmost panel and then choose Language. Click on the Process OpenMP Directives entry in the right hand panel and select Generate Parallel Code (/QopenMP) from the drop-down list. Click on the Apply button to accept the changes.

  5. Click on the OK button to close the form.

In summary, the setting of the project Additional Dependencies, the project Runtime Library and the PATH environment variable must be consistent as follows:

If you are running on a 64-bit system, make sure the Active solution platform (accessible from the Build|Configuration Manager dialog box) is set to Win32 (to ensure compatibility with this 32-bit implementation of the NAG Library). The project should now compile and link using the appropriate choice from the Build menu.

To run a program from within the Microsoft Development Environment, the program may be executed via the Debug menu (by selecting Start Without Debugging, for example).

For Visual Studio 2005 and later, if a data file needs to be attached to the standard input or the output of a program needs to be redirected to the standard output, this can be achieved by selecting the Debugging section on the Properties form and inserting the appropriate commands in the Command Arguments field, e.g.

  < input_file > output_file
If the input and output files are not in the application's working directory, full or relative paths may need to be specified. For NAG examples that use an .opt file, this should be placed in the working directory. This directory may be set via the Working Directory field, which is also on the Debugging page of the Properties form. (Note that input / output redirection is broken in some versions of Visual Studio 2008.)

3.1.2. Note on Module Files

The .mod module files supplied with this NAG Library implementation in the nag_interface_blocks folder were compiled with the Intel ifort compiler. Such module files are compiler-dependent and will not be suitable for use with other Fortran compilers. If you wish to use the NAG example programs, or use the interface blocks in your own programs, when using another compiler, you will first need to create your own module files. See Section 3.2 for details.

3.1.3. Calling the DLL from NAG Fortran Builder

NAG Library interface blocks suitable for use with the NAG Fortran compiler are distributed with this product, located in the nag_interface_blocks_nagfor folder of the installation. They were compiled with version 5.3 of the NAG compiler. If you have a newer version of the NAG compiler, you may first need to recompile the module files as described in Section 3.2. Note that in this case it is important to use the -compatible compiler flag when compiling the interface blocks, to make sure that they are compatible with the library.

At a command line, commands such as the following may then be used to call the NAG DLL from the NAG Fortran Compiler (nagfor):

  nagfor -thread_safe -compatible -I "install dir"\nag_interface_blocks_nagfor
         -o driver.exe driver.f90 "install dir\lib\FSW3224DC.lib"
where driver.f90 is your application program and driver.exe is the executable produced, and nag_interface_blocks_nagfor is the directory containing the compiled module files.

Note that the -thread_safe compiler switch ensures that local variables are not statically allocated, as discussed in section 3.1. In this context, it is also important to note that you should definitely not use nagfor's -save switch, since that has the opposite effect on local variables to that required.

The full pathname of the FSW3224DC.lib file must be specified and must be enclosed within quotes if it contains spaces.

Note that on 64-bit Windows machines you will also need to add the -abi32 compiler flag.

Using the DLL from within the Fortran Builder IDE itself is also easy, following steps like these:

Note that if you build your project in Debug mode (the default), it is not possible to use the Undefined variables option which is accessible on the Fortran Compiler / Runtime Check tab of Project Settings. This is because the NAG Library was not compiled with this option. Trying to use it will cause a compile-time error in Fortran Builder, showing an "Incompatible option setting" when using the NAG interface blocks.

3.1.4. Calling the DLL from Silverfrost (Salford) FTN95

If you wish to use the NAG Library interface blocks (e.g. if you are compiling a NAG example program) you will probably first need to create the module files as described in Section 3.2. When compiling the interface blocks with FTN95 you should use the /f_stdcall switch to the compiler to ensure the STDCALL calling convention is in force.

It is important to note that the interface file nag_precisions.f90 may need to be modified before it can be compiled with FTN95. The Fortran kind function may not be recognised by the compiler as an intrinsic function. If that is the case, you should delete the intrinsic declarations of kind and selected_int_kind, and change the other parameters to look like this:

       INTEGER, PARAMETER              :: HP = 2
       INTEGER, PARAMETER              :: I4B = 3
       INTEGER, PARAMETER              :: RP = 1
       INTEGER, PARAMETER              :: WP = 2

In addition, the interface file nag_e_ib.f90 has been observed to fail to compile with FTN95 due to a declaration of the intrinsic function MAX. Simply deleting the declaration should make it work.

Since FTN95 uses a variant of the cdecl calling convention, the compiler must be told that the routines in the DLL are to be called using the CVF calling convention. This can be accomplished using the /import_lib command line switch as follows:

  ftn95 /f_stdcall /mod_path nag_interface_blocks_ftn95 driver.f90
        /import_lib "install dir\bin\FSW3224DC.dll" /link
(This assumes that you have placed the compiled NAG interface blocks into directory nag_interface_blocks_ftn95).

The full pathname of install dir should be specified to the DLL and should be enclosed within quotes if it contains spaces. The effect of this is to assume that all exported names in the DLL are CVF STDCALL and that any use of them should use the CVF STDCALL calling convention. External names passed via the argument list to a routine in a NAG DLL are automatically adjusted for whether or not they occur in the same source.

It is also possible to compile and link using commands such as

  ftn95 /f_stdcall /mod_path nag_interface_blocks_ftn95 driver.f90
  slink driver.obj "install dir\bin\FSW3224DC.dll"
As with compilation, the full path to the DLL should be specified here, within quotes if the pathname contains spaces. It is worth emphasising that the linker should link directly against the DLL, not the *.lib files.

A possible limitation of the FTN95 compiler means that if the driver program itself contains a Fortran MODULE defining a routine to be passed as an argument to a NAG routine, the argument may not be given the STDCALL attribute, and linking may fail (or the program may fail at run time). This limitation has been observed during testing with version 6.00.0 of FTN95. Internal modules are used in many of the NAG Example Programs. You are advised to replace such internal modules by external routine declarations.

Another minor limitation of FTN95 is that it does not support the Fortran FLUSH statement (which is part of the Fortran 2003 standard). Some NAG example programs use FLUSH to ensure that output from the NAG DLL comes out in the expected order. You may need to comment out calls to FLUSH in order to compile.

Plato is the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that is provided with the more recent versions of FTN95. To use Plato for a project involving a NAG routine:

  1. From the File menu choose 'New Project'.
  2. Select 'Fortran Application' and set a name for the project and location.
  3. In the Project Explorer window, right-click on the source files and enter the files comprising the project. For example you might choose the NAG example program e01bafe.f90.
  4. Right-click on the 'References' in the Project Explorer window and enter the name of the NAG DLL you wish to use e.g. FSW3224DC.dll.
  5. If your compiler is older than version 5.2 then make sure that the project does NOT use the 'Checkmate' option; prior to version 5.2 FTN95 did not work correctly with the 'Checkmate' option and the NAG STDCALL DLL. Choose for example 'Release Win32' from the drop down menu on the toolbar.
  6. Ensure that the STDCALL option is used. To specify the /F_STDCALL option go to Project | Properties | Compiler Options | Miscellaneous. There is an 'Extra compiler options' property that you can set to '/F_STDCALL'. Alternatively you may right-click on the NAG DLL in the Project Explorer pane, under 'References', and then under 'Properties' set the checkbox to indicate STDCALL.
  7. If your code uses the NAG interface blocks, you can specify their location by going to Project | Properties | Compiler Options | Source and entering the directory where the compiled module files are under 'Specify MODULE paths'. (See the beginning of this section for information on generating the module files.)
  8. Unfortunately Plato doesn't currently support redirection of standard input/output. You can avoid this by explicitly opening the files within the main program. For example to send the results to a file c:\test.res insert the statement
            open(6,file='c:\test.res')
    
    in the main program before any write statements to channel 6.

3.1.5. Calling the DLL from PGI Fortran

If you wish to use the NAG Library interface blocks (e.g. if you are compiling a NAG example program) you may first need to create the module files as described in Section 3.2.

Assuming that the LIB and PATH environment variables have been set up appropriately for your installation of the NAG Library, the command for linking to the Mark 24 DLL using pgf90 is:

  pgf90 -Mrecursive driver.f90 -module nag_interface_blocks_pgi FSW3224DC.lib -o driver.exe
Note that nag_interface_blocks_pgi is the directory containing your compiled module files. Note also that the -Mrecursive compiler switch ensures that local variables are not statically allocated, as discussed in section 3.1. In this context, it is also important to note that you should definitely not use the pgf90 -Msave switch, since that has the opposite effect on local variables to that required.

This has been tested using version 13.4 of the PGI pgf90 compiler.

3.1.6. Calling the DLL from Microsoft Visual C++ / Visual Studio

If you have Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 or above then, with care, the NAG Fortran DLL may be used from within a C or C++ environment. To assist the user make the mapping between Fortran and C types, a C/C++ header file nagmk24.h is provided. It is recommended that users wishing to use a Fortran DLL routine either copy and paste the relevant section of the header file into their C or C++ applications (making sure that the relevant #defines etc. are also copied from the top of the file) or simply include the header file with their application.

Examples of the use of the DLL from C and C++ are given in the install dir\samples\c_examples and install dir\samples\cpp_examples folders.

A document, techdoc.html, giving more detailed advice on calling the DLL from C and C++ is available in install dir\c_headers. There is also a shortcut to this document on the Start Menu under

  Start|All Programs|NAG|FS24|NAG Library for SMP and Multicore
    (FSW3224DCL)|Calling FSW3224DCL from C & C++
by default. Note that some changes will be needed if you paste code from one of the C examples given there into a C++ file since, if __cplusplus is defined, the header file provided uses C++ reference arguments for scalars, and therefore the "address of" operator should not be used. See Section 3 of the techdoc.html document for more details.

Key information:

Assuming that the folder containing the libraries has been added to the LIB environment variable, you may compile and link your C application program to the NAG Library on the command line in the following manner:
  cl driver.c FSW3224DC.lib
where driver.c is your application program. This assumes that the folder containing the header file has been added to the INCLUDE environment variable. If not, you could use:
  cl /I"install dir\c_headers" driver.c FSW3224DC.lib

The following instuctions apply to Visual Studio .NET 2003, Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008. Later versions may vary.

If you are working under the Visual Studio IDE, set the following values to enable linking to work. Under the project's Properties, select Configuration Properties | Linker | Input and add FSW3224DC.lib to the Additional Dependencies field. If the LIB environment variable has not been set elsewhere, select Configuration Properties | Linker | General and add install dir\lib to the Additional Library Directories field. You will also need to add install dir\c_headers to the C/C++|General|Additional Include Directories field unless you are using a local copy of nagmk24.h.

Note that, with Microsoft C++, you may need to use the /EHsc compiler switch with the command line C++ examples.

3.1.7. Calling the DLL from Intel C/C++

The header file and discussion in Calling the DLL from Microsoft Visual C++ apply equally to Intel C.

Assuming that the folder containing the libraries has been added to the LIB environment variable, you may compile and link your C application program to the NAG Library on the command line in the following manner:

  icl /I"install dir\c_headers" driver.c FSW3224DC.lib

3.1.8. Calling the DLL from Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications / Excel (32-bit)

The Fortran DLL provided in this implementation is ideally suited for use within an Excel spreadsheet. The routines may be called from Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code. (Note that VBA and Visual Basic 6 (VB 6) have many similarities, and the same NAG Declare statements are used for both.) The information here applies to 32-bit versions of Excel.

Examples of use of the DLL from within Excel are given in the install dir\samples\excel_examples folder. The folder install dir\samples\excel_examples\linear_algebra contains the file xls_demo.html. This file gives some hints about using NAG DLL from within Excel spreadsheets. See also the VB 6 examples for further illustrations of calling the NAG DLL from VB 6 / VBA.

Key information:

This has been tested using Microsoft Office Excel 2003, 2007 and 2010.

3.1.9. Calling the DLL from Microsoft Visual Basic 6

Visual Basic 6 (VB 6) and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) have many similarities, so much of the VBA specific information above applies directly to VB 6. Note especially the remarks about array conventions and string handling.

Examples of use of the DLL from Visual Basic 6 are given in the install dir\samples\vb6_examples folder. See also the VBA code within the Excel examples for further illustrations of calling the NAG DLL from VB 6 / VBA.

Key information:

This has been tested using Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0.

3.1.10. Calling the DLL from Microsoft Visual Basic .NET

Many of the library routines are callable from Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET). Examples of use of the DLL from VB.NET are given in the install dir\samples\vb.net_examples folder. (These examples were created using Visual Studio .NET 2003; if loaded into Visual Studio 2005 or later, the solution and project files will be converted by the Visual Studio Conversion Wizard.)

Key information:

This has been tested using Visual Studio .NET 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

If running on a 64-bit system, it may be necessary to set the Target CPU to x86 to avoid a BadImageFormatException.

3.1.11. Calling the DLL from C#

For information on calling the NAG Library DLL from C# see http://www.nag.co.uk/numeric/csharpinfo.asp. The method illustrated there is applicable to the DLL in this implementation.

Examples of use of the DLL from C# are given in the install dir\samples\cs_examples folder. They may be compiled with the C# compiler in a command line like this:

  csc driver.cs
(Note that the DLL name is embedded in the example files.) On 64-bit Windows machines you will need to add the flag /platform:x86.

You may also be interested in the NAG Library for .NET – see http://www.nag.co.uk/microsoft_dotnet.asp for details.

3.1.12. Calling the DLL from Java

It is possible to call the DLL in this implementation from Java - see http://www.nag.co.uk/doc/TechRep/html/Tr2_09/Tr2_09.asp. for details of how to do this.

However, it is very much easier to use the NAG Library for Java.

3.1.13. Calling the DLL from Python

For information on calling the NAG Library DLL from Python using F2PY see the PDF file http://www.nag.co.uk/doc/TechRep/pdf/TR1_08.pdf. The method illustrated there is applicable to the DLL in this implementation.

3.1.14. Calling the DLL from R

For information on calling the NAG Library DLL from R see http://www.nag.co.uk/numeric/RunderWindows.asp. The method illustrated there is applicable to the DLL in this implementation.

3.1.15. The NAG Library edition of Simfit

The NAG Library edition of Simfit uses a DLL implementation of the NAG Library as its source of algorithms. For more information about the NAG Library edition of Simfit see http://www.nag.co.uk/educationuk/simfit.asp.

3.1.16. Calling the DLL from Other Environments

For information on calling the NAG Library for SMP and Multicore Applications from environments not mentioned above, please see the Post Release Information page:

http://www.nag.co.uk/doc/inun/fs24/w32dcl/postrelease.html

or contact us via one of the addresses listed in the Appendix.

3.1.17. Accessibility Check

To check whether the DLL included in this library implementation are accessible from the current environment, run the program NAG_Fortran_DLL_info.exe which is available from the Start Menu shortcut
  Start|All Programs|NAG|FS24|NAG Library for SMP and Multicore
    (FSW3224DCL)|Check NAG DLL Accessibility for FSW3224DCL
See Section 4.2.3 of the Installer's Note for details of this utility.

3.2. Interface Blocks

The NAG Library interface blocks define the type and arguments of each user callable NAG Library routine. These are not essential to calling the NAG Library from Fortran programs. However, they are required if the supplied examples are used. Their purpose is to allow the Fortran compiler to check that NAG Library routines are called correctly. The interface blocks enable the compiler to check that:

(a) subroutines are called as such;
(b) functions are declared with the right type;
(c) the correct number of arguments are passed; and
(d) all arguments match in type and structure.

The NAG Library interface block files are organised by Library chapter. They are aggregated into one module named

  nag_library

The modules are supplied in pre-compiled form (.mod files) for the Intel Fortran compiler, ifort.

If you use the Library command prompt shortcut, or set the environment variables by running the batch file envvars.bat for this implementation (see Section 3.1.1.1), and the Intel ifort compiler, you can use any of the commands described in Section 3.1.1.1 to access these modules since the environment variable INCLUDE will be set.

The .mod module files were compiled with the compiler shown in Section 2.2 of the Installer's Note. Such module files are compiler-dependent, so if you wish to use the NAG example programs, or use the interface blocks in your own programs, when using a compiler that is incompatible with these modules, you will first need to create your own module files, as described here.

Create a folder named nag_interface_blocks_original in a location of your choice (the exact folder name is not important), and copy the contents of nag_interface_blocks to nag_interface_blocks_original, thus saving the original set of interface blocks.

Then in folder nag_interface_blocks recompile all the .f90 files into objects using your compiler. Because the interface blocks contain some inter-dependencies, the order of compilation is important, but the following compilation order should work. Here we use the Intel compiler ifort for illustration - you should replace ifort /iface:cvf by the name of the compiler you wish to use along with any necessary compiler switches.

  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_precisions.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_a_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_blast_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_blas_consts.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_blas_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_c_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_d_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_e_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_f_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_g_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_h_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_lapack_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_m_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_omp_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_s_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_w_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_x_ib.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_long_names.f90
  ifort /iface:cvf -c nag_library.f90
The object files generated by the compilation may be discarded - only the module files are needed.

You should now be able to use the newly compiled module files in the usual way.

3.3. Example Programs

The example results distributed were generated at Mark 24, using the software described in Section 2.2 of the Installer's Note. These example results may not be exactly reproducible if the example programs are run in a slightly different environment (for example, a different Fortran compiler, a different compiler library, or a different set of BLAS or LAPACK routines). The results which are most sensitive to such differences are: eigenvectors (which may differ by a scalar multiple, often -1, but sometimes complex); numbers of iterations and function evaluations; and residuals and other "small" quantities of the same order as the machine precision.

The distributed example results are those obtained with the DLL library FSW3224DC.dll and OMP_NUM_THREADS set to 1.

Note that the example material has been adapted, if necessary, from that published in the Library Manual, so that programs are suitable for execution with this implementation with no further changes. The distributed example programs should be used in preference to the versions in the Library Manual wherever possible.

The example programs are most easily accessed by one of the following batch files:

The batch files need the environment variable NAG_FSW3224DCL.

As mentioned in Section 3.1.1.1, the installation procedure provides a shortcut which starts a Command Prompt with local environment variables. The environment variables include NAG_FSW3224DCL. This shortcut is, by default, placed in the Start Menu under

  Start|All Programs|NAG|FS24|NAG Library for SMP and Multicore
    (FSW3224DCL)|FSW3224DCL Command Prompt
If the shortcut is not used, you need to set this environment variable. It can be set by running the batch file envvars.bat for this implementation. The default location of this file is:
  c:\Program Files\NAG\FS24\fsw3224dcl\batch\envvars.bat
If the file is not in the default location, you can locate it by searching for the file envvars.bat containing fsw3224dcl.

Each of the nagsmp_example* batch files mentioned above will provide you with a copy of an example program (and its data and options file, if any), compile the program and link it with the appropriate libraries (showing you the compile command so that you can recompile your own version of the program). Finally, the executable program will be run with appropriate arguments specifying data, options and results files as needed.

The example program concerned, and the number of OpenMP threads to use, are specified by the arguments to nagsmp_example_static.bat, e.g.

  nagsmp_example_static e04ucf 4
will copy the example program e04ucfe.f and its data file e04ucfe.d into the current directory and process them to produce the example program results in the file e04ucfe.r.

Alternatively you could use:

  nagsmp_example_dll e04ucf 4

The difference between nagsmp_example_static.bat and nagsmp_example_dll.bat is that while nagsmp_example_static.bat links to the static version of the NAG SMP and MKL Libraries, nagsmp_example_dll.bat links to the DLL versions of the libraries.

3.4. Fortran Types and Interpretation of Bold Italicised Terms

The NAG Library and documentation use parameterized types for floating-point variables. Thus, the type
      REAL(KIND=nag_wp)
appears in documentation of all NAG Library routines, where nag_wp is a Fortran KIND parameter. The value of nag_wp will vary between implementations, and its value can be obtained by use of the nag_library module. We refer to the type nag_wp as the NAG Library "working precision" type, because most floating-point arguments and internal variables used in the library are of this type.

In addition, a small number of routines use the type

      REAL(KIND=nag_rp)
where nag_rp stands for "reduced precision type". Another type, not currently used in the library, is
      REAL(KIND=nag_hp)
for "higher precision type" or "additional precision type".

For correct use of these types, see almost any of the example programs distributed with the Library.

For this implementation, these types have the following meanings:

      REAL (kind=nag_rp)      means REAL (i.e. single precision)
      REAL (kind=nag_wp)      means DOUBLE PRECISION
      COMPLEX (kind=nag_rp)   means COMPLEX (i.e. single precision complex)
      COMPLEX (kind=nag_wp)   means double precision complex (e.g. COMPLEX*16)

In addition, the Manual has adopted a convention of using bold italics to distinguish some terms.

One important bold italicised term is machine precision, which denotes the relative precision to which DOUBLE PRECISION floating-point numbers are stored in the computer, e.g. in an implementation with approximately 16 decimal digits of precision, machine precision has a value of approximately 1.0D-16.

The precise value of machine precision is given by the routine X02AJF. Other routines in Chapter X02 return the values of other implementation-dependent constants, such as the overflow threshold, or the largest representable integer. Refer to the X02 Chapter Introduction for more details.

The bold italicised term block size is used only in Chapters F07 and F08. It denotes the block size used by block algorithms in these chapters. You only need to be aware of its value when it affects the amount of workspace to be supplied – see the parameters WORK and LWORK of the relevant routine documents and the Chapter Introduction.

3.5. Explicit Output from NAG Routines

Certain routines produce explicit error messages and advisory messages via output units which have default values that can be reset by using X04AAF for error messages and X04ABF for advisory messages. (The default values are given in Section 4.)

4. Routine-specific Information

Any further information which applies to one or more routines in this implementation is listed below, chapter by chapter.
  1. C06

    In this implementation calls to the Intel Discrete Fourier Transforms Interface (DFTI) routines, from the supplied MKL library, are made whenever possible in the following NAG routines:
     C06PAF  C06PCF  C06PFF  C06PJF  C06PKF  C06PPF  C06PQF  C06PRF
     C06PSF  C06PUF  C06PVF  C06PWF  C06PXF  C06PYF  C06PZF  C06RAF  
     C06RBF  C06RCF  C06RDF
    
    The Intel DFTI routines allocate their own workspace internally, so no changes are needed to the size of workspace array WORK passed to the NAG C06 routines listed above from that specified in their respective library documents.
  2. C09

    Due to limitations in the current version of the Intel compiler, the following routines are serial in this implementation:
     C09FAF  C09FBF  C09FCF  C09FDF
    

  3. F06, F07, F08 and F16

    Many LAPACK routines have a "workspace query" mechanism which allows a caller to interrogate the routine to determine how much workspace to supply. Note that LAPACK routines from the Intel MKL library may require a different amount of workspace from the equivalent NAG versions of these routines. Care should be taken when using the workspace query mechanism.

    In this implementation calls to BLAS and LAPACK routines are implemented by calls to MKL, except for the following routines:

      DBDSDC     DGEES      DGEESX     DGERFS     DGGES     DGGESX
      DGGEVX     DSBEV      DSBEVX     ZGEES      ZGEESX    ZGGES
      ZGGESX     ZHBEV      ZHBEVX     ZTRSEN
    

    The following NAG named routines are wrappers to call LAPACK routines from the vendor library:
    F07ADF/DGETRF    F07AEF/DGETRS    F07ARF/ZGETRF    F07ASF/ZGETRS
    F07AVF/ZGERFS    F07BDF/DGBTRF    F07BEF/DGBTRS    F07BHF/DGBRFS
    F07BRF/ZGBTRF    F07BSF/ZGBTRS    F07BVF/ZGBRFS    F07CHF/DGTRFS
    F07CVF/ZGTRFS    F07FDF/DPOTRF    F07FEF/DPOTRS    F07FHF/DPORFS
    F07FJF/DPOTRI    F07FRF/ZPOTRF    F07FSF/ZPOTRS    F07FVF/ZPORFS
    F07GEF/DPPTRS    F07GHF/DPPRFS    F07GSF/ZPPTRS    F07GVF/ZPPRFS
    F07HEF/DPBTRS    F07HHF/DPBRFS    F07HSF/ZPBTRS    F07HVF/ZPBRFS
    F07JHF/DPTRFS    F07JVF/ZPTRFS    F07MHF/DSYRFS    F07MVF/ZHERFS
    F07NVF/ZSYRFS    F07PHF/DSPRFS    F07PVF/ZHPRFS    F07QVF/ZSPRFS
    F07THF/DTRRFS    F07TVF/ZTRRFS    F07UEF/DTPTRS    F07UHF/DTPRFS
    F07USF/ZTPTRS    F07UVF/ZTPRFS    F07VEF/DTBTRS    F07VHF/DTBRFS
    F07VSF/ZTBTRS    F07VVF/ZTBRFS    F08AEF/DGEQRF    F08AFF/DORGQR
    F08AGF/DORMQR    F08ASF/ZGEQRF    F08ATF/ZUNGQR    F08AUF/ZUNMQR
    F08FEF/DSYTRD    F08FFF/DORGTR    F08FSF/ZHETRD    F08FTF/ZUNGTR
    F08GFF/DOPGTR    F08GTF/ZUPGTR    F08JEF/DSTEQR    F08JJF/DSTEBZ
    F08JKF/DSTEIN    F08JSF/ZSTEQR    F08JXF/ZSTEIN    F08KEF/DGEBRD
    F08KSF/ZGEBRD    F08MEF/DBDSQR    F08MSF/ZBDSQR    F08NEF/DGEHRD
    F08NGF/DORMHR    F08NSF/ZGEHRD    F08PEF/DHSEQR    F08PKF/DHSEIN
    F08PSF/ZHSEQR    F08PXF/ZHSEIN    F08TAF/DSPGV     F08TBF/DSPGVX
    F08TCF/DSPGVD    F08TNF/ZHPGV     F08TPF/ZHPGVX    F08TQF/ZHPGVD
    
  4. G02

    The value of ACC, the machine-dependent constant mentioned in several documents in the chapter, is 1.0D-13.
  5. S07 - S21

    Functions in these chapters will give error messages if called with illegal or unsafe arguments.

    The constants referred to in the Library Manual have the following values in this implementation:

    S07AAF  F_1 = 1.0E+13
            F_2 = 1.0E-14
    
    S10AAF  E_1 = 1.8715E+1
    S10ABF  E_1 = 7.080E+2
    S10ACF  E_1 = 7.080E+2
    
    S13AAF  x_hi = 7.083E+2
    S13ACF  x_hi = 1.0E+16
    S13ADF  x_hi = 1.0E+17
    
    S14AAF  IFAIL = 1 if X > 1.70E+2
            IFAIL = 2 if X < -1.70E+2
            IFAIL = 3 if abs(X) < 2.23E-308
    S14ABF  IFAIL = 2 if X > x_big = 2.55E+305
    
    S15ADF  x_hi = 2.65E+1
    S15AEF  x_hi = 2.65E+1
    S15AFF  underflow trap was necessary
    S15AGF  IFAIL = 1 if X >= 2.53E+307
            IFAIL = 2 if 4.74E+7 <= X < 2.53E+307
            IFAIL = 3 if X < -2.66E+1
    
    S17ACF  IFAIL = 1 if X > 1.0E+16
    S17ADF  IFAIL = 1 if X > 1.0E+16
            IFAIL = 3 if 0 < X <= 2.23E-308
    S17AEF  IFAIL = 1 if abs(X) > 1.0E+16
    S17AFF  IFAIL = 1 if abs(X) > 1.0E+16
    S17AGF  IFAIL = 1 if X > 1.038E+2
            IFAIL = 2 if X < -5.7E+10
    S17AHF  IFAIL = 1 if X > 1.041E+2
            IFAIL = 2 if X < -5.7E+10
    S17AJF  IFAIL = 1 if X > 1.041E+2
            IFAIL = 2 if X < -1.9E+9
    S17AKF  IFAIL = 1 if X > 1.041E+2
            IFAIL = 2 if X < -1.9E+9
    S17DCF  IFAIL = 2 if abs(Z) < 3.92223E-305
            IFAIL = 4 if abs(Z) or FNU+N-1 > 3.27679E+4
            IFAIL = 5 if abs(Z) or FNU+N-1 > 1.07374E+9
    S17DEF  IFAIL = 2 if AIMAG(Z) > 7.00921E+2
            IFAIL = 3 if abs(Z) or FNU+N-1 > 3.27679E+4
            IFAIL = 4 if abs(Z) or FNU+N-1 > 1.07374E+9
    S17DGF  IFAIL = 3 if abs(Z) > 1.02399E+3
            IFAIL = 4 if abs(Z) > 1.04857E+6
    S17DHF  IFAIL = 3 if abs(Z) > 1.02399E+3
            IFAIL = 4 if abs(Z) > 1.04857E+6
    S17DLF  IFAIL = 2 if abs(Z) < 3.92223E-305
            IFAIL = 4 if abs(Z) or FNU+N-1 > 3.27679E+4
            IFAIL = 5 if abs(Z) or FNU+N-1 > 1.07374E+9
    
    S18ADF  IFAIL = 2 if 0 < X <= 2.23E-308
    S18AEF  IFAIL = 1 if abs(X) > 7.116E+2
    S18AFF  IFAIL = 1 if abs(X) > 7.116E+2
    S18DCF  IFAIL = 2 if abs(Z) < 3.92223E-305
            IFAIL = 4 if abs(Z) or FNU+N-1 > 3.27679E+4
            IFAIL = 5 if abs(Z) or FNU+N-1 > 1.07374E+9
    S18DEF  IFAIL = 2 if REAL(Z) > 7.00921E+2
            IFAIL = 3 if abs(Z) or FNU+N-1 > 3.27679E+4
            IFAIL = 4 if abs(Z) or FNU+N-1 > 1.07374E+9
    
    S19AAF  IFAIL = 1 if abs(X) >= 5.04818E+1
    S19ABF  IFAIL = 1 if abs(X) >= 5.04818E+1
    S19ACF  IFAIL = 1 if X > 9.9726E+2
    S19ADF  IFAIL = 1 if X > 9.9726E+2
    
    S21BCF  IFAIL = 3 if an argument < 1.583E-205
            IFAIL = 4 if an argument >= 3.765E+202
    S21BDF  IFAIL = 3 if an argument < 2.813E-103
            IFAIL = 4 if an argument >= 1.407E+102
    
  6. X01

    The values of the mathematical constants are:

    X01AAF (pi) = 3.1415926535897932
    X01ABF (gamma) = 0.5772156649015328
    
  7. X02

    The values of the machine constants are:

    The basic parameters of the model

    X02BHF   = 2
    X02BJF   = 53
    X02BKF   = -1021
    X02BLF   = 1024
    

    Derived parameters of the floating-point arithmetic

    X02AJF   = 1.11022302462516E-16
    X02AKF   = 2.22507385850721E-308
    X02ALF   = 1.79769313486231E+308
    X02AMF   = 2.22507385850721E-308
    X02ANF   = 2.22507385850721E-308
    

    Parameters of other aspects of the computing environment

    X02AHF   = 1.42724769270596E+45
    X02BBF   = 2147483647
    X02BEF   = 15
    
  8. X04

    The default output units for error and advisory messages for those routines which can produce explicit output are both Fortran Unit 6.
  9. Routines that call User Functions within OpenMP Parallel Regions

    In this implementation, the following routines make calls to user functions from within OpenMP parallel regions located inside the NAG routines:
    D03RAF
    D03RBF
    E05SAF
    E05SBF
    E05UCF
    E05USF
    F01ELF
    F01EMF
    F01FLF
    F01FMF
    F01JBF
    F01JCF
    F01KBF
    F01KCF
    
    Thus OpenMP directives or pragmas within the user functions should be avoided, unless you are using the same OpenMP runtime library (which normally means using the same compiler) as that used to build your NAG Library implementation, as listed in the Installers' Note. You must also ensure that you use the user workspace arrays IUSER and RUSER in a thread safe manner, which is best achieved by only using them to supply read-only data to the user functions.

5. Documentation

The Library Manual is available as a separate installation, via download from the NAG website, or from the distribution CD if you have one. It is also available directly on the CD. The most up-to-date version of the documentation is accessible via the NAG website at http://www.nag.co.uk/numeric/FL/FSdocumentation.asp.

The Library Manual is supplied in the following formats:

The following main index files have been provided for these formats:

	nagdoc_fl24\html\FRONTMATTER\manconts.html
	nagdoc_fl24\pdf\FRONTMATTER\manconts.pdf
	nagdoc_fl24\pdf\FRONTMATTER\manconts.html
If the Library Manual has been installed locally, these index files are available from the Start Menu under
  Start|All Programs|NAG|Mark 24 Manual|
      NAG Library Manual Mark 24 (HTML5)
  Start|All Programs|NAG|Mark 24 Manual|
      NAG Library Manual Mark 24 (PDF)
  Start|All Programs|NAG|Mark 24 Manual|
      NAG Library Manual Mark 24 (PDF + HTML Index)
respectively, by default. Use your web browser to navigate from here. For convenience, a master index file containing links to the above files has been provided at
	nagdoc_fl24\index.html

Advice on viewing and navigating the formats available can be found in the Online Documentation document.

The Library Manual is also available as an HTML Help file. In order to display the mathematical expressions correctly, you will need to install Design Science's MathPlayer plug-in. MathPlayer may optionally be installed with this NAG Library product, or may be downloaded from Design Science's website:

  http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathplayer/download.htm

The HTML Help version of the Library Manual is available from the Start Menu under

  Start|All Programs|NAG|FS24|NAG Library for SMP and Multicore
    (FSW3224DCL)|NAG Library Manual Mk24 HTML Help
If the NAG Library materials have been installed on a network drive, you may need to copy the HTML Help file (nagdoc_fl24.chm) to a local drive. If you still have trouble seeing the correct help file materials, e.g. if you see a message such as
  Navigation to the webpage was canceled
the file might have been blocked by security updates in Windows or Internet Explorer. Right-click on nagdoc_fl24.chm in Windows Explorer and select Properties from the pop-up menu. If there is an Unblock button at the bottom click on it to unblock the file and then click on OK to close the Properties dialog box.

In addition the following are provided:

The latter is available from the Start Menu under
  Start|All Programs|NAG|FS24|NAG Library for SMP and Multicore
    (FSW3224DCL)|FSW3224DCL Users' Note
by default.

6. Support from NAG

(a) Contact with NAG

Queries concerning this document or the implementation generally should be directed to NAG at one of the addresses given in the Appendix. Users subscribing to the support service are encouraged to contact one of the NAG Response Centres (see below).

(b) NAG Response Centres

The NAG Response Centres are available for general enquiries from all users and also for technical queries from sites with an annually licensed product or support service.

The Response Centres are open during office hours, but contact is possible by fax, email and phone (answering machine) at all times.

When contacting a Response Centre, it helps us deal with your enquiry quickly if you can quote your NAG site reference or account number and NAG product code (in this case FSW3224DCL).

(c) NAG Websites

The NAG websites provide information about implementation availability, descriptions of products, downloadable software, product documentation and technical reports. The NAG websites can be accessed at the following URLs:

http://www.nag.co.uk/, http://www.nag.com/, http://www.nag-j.co.jp/ or http://www.nag-gc.com/

(d) NAG Electronic Newsletter

If you would like to be kept up to date with news from NAG then please register to receive our free electronic newsletter, which will alert you to announcements about new products or product/service enhancements, technical tips, customer stories and NAG's event diary. You can register via one of our websites, or by contacting us at nagnews@nag.co.uk.

(e) Product Registration

To ensure that you receive information on updates and other relevant announcements, please register this product with us. For NAG Library products this may be accomplished by filling in the online registration form at http://www.nag.co.uk/numeric/Library_Registration.asp.

7. User Feedback

Many factors influence the way that NAG's products and services evolve, and your ideas are invaluable in helping us to ensure that we meet your needs. If you would like to contribute to this process, we would be delighted to receive your comments. Please contact any of the NAG Response Centres (shown below).

Appendix - Contact Addresses

NAG Ltd
Wilkinson House
Jordan Hill Road
OXFORD  OX2 8DR                         NAG Ltd Response Centre
United Kingdom                          email: support@nag.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1865 511245                 Tel: +44 (0)1865 311744
Fax: +44 (0)1865 310139                 Fax: +44 (0)1865 310139

NAG Inc
801 Warrenville Road
Suite 185
Lisle, IL  60532-4332                   NAG Inc Response Center
USA                                     email: support@nag.com

Tel: +1 630 971 2337                    Tel: +1 630 971 2337
Fax: +1 630 971 2706                    Fax: +1 630 971 2706

Nihon NAG KK
Hatchobori Frontier Building 2F
4-9-9
Hatchobori
Chuo-ku
Tokyo 104-0032                          Nihon NAG Response Centre
Japan                                   email: naghelp@nag-j.co.jp

Tel: +81 3 5542 6311                    Tel: +81 3 5542 6311
Fax: +81 3 5542 6312                    Fax: +81 3 5542 6312