VECLIB

Preface

Hewlett-Packard’s high-performance math libraries (HP MLIB) help you speed development of applications and shorten execution time of long-running technical applications.

HP MLIB is a collection of subprograms optimized for use on HP servers and workstations, providing mathematical software and computational kernels for engineering and scientific applications. HP MLIB can be used on systems ranging from single-processor workstations to multiprocessor high-end servers. HP MLIB is optimized for HP PA-RISC 2.0, Itanium 2, and Opteron processors. HP MLIB has six components; VECLIB, LAPACK, ScaLAPACK, SuperLU, SOLVERS, and VMATH.

VECLIB

HP VECLIB contains robust callable subprograms. Together with a subset of the BLAS Standard subroutines, HP MLIB supports the legacy BLAS, a collection of routines for the solution of sparse symmetric systems of equations, a collection of commonly used Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs), and convolutions. Although VECLIB was designed for use with Fortran programs, C programs can call VECLIB subprograms, as described in Appendix A. Refer to Part 1 of this manual for HP VECLIB information.

Throughout this document there are references to legacy BLAS and BLAS Standard routines. Legacy BLAS routines include Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (BLAS), that is the level 1, 2, and 3 BLAS, as well as the Sparse BLAS.

A BLAS standardization effort began with a BLAS Technical (BLAST) Forum meeting in November 1995 at the University of Tennessee. The efforts of the BLAST Forum resulted in a BLAS Standard specification in 1999. BLAS Standard routines refer to routines as defined by this BLAS Standard specification. HP MLIB supports a subset of BLAS Standard routines. Refer to Chapter 2, “Basic Vector Operations,” and Chapter 3, “Basic Matrix Operations,” for details about supported subprograms.

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