GrAL - the Grid
Algorithms
Library
 |
| (created with COG ) |
GrAL is a generic library
for grid (or mesh) data structures and algorithms operating on them.
It has been inspired by the success of the
STL,
and is similar in spirit to
BGL
and (though to a lesser extent) to
CGAL.
As you might guess, GrAL is written in C++.
GrAL was initially developed with applications for
numerical PDE (partial differential equations) solution in mind.
However, the underlying mathematical structure of abstract cellular complexes
is very general and almost ubiquitous.
So, possible application areas for GrAL include
computational geometry and topology,
geometric modeling,
computer graphics,
or geographic information systems.
History
- March 7, 2001: GrAL 0.1 was released.
- July 2001: Guntram Berti moved to NEC C&C Research Laboratories
(now NEC Laboratories Europe).
NEC generously agreed that Guntram could continue to work on open-source GrAL.
- February 2002: GrAL 0.2 was released.
- GrAL developments went on at NEC after that time,
but no new public release was made after that time,
due to lazyness or work overload (choose one)
- During 2005, Roman Putanowicz from Cracow University of Technology joined as developer.
- March 2009: GrAL is hosted on BerliOS.
- April 2014: GrAL moved to GitHub as the source code repositories at BerliOS are closed.
People
GrAL has been conceived and developed by Guntram Berti.
In 2005, Roman Putanowicz joined as developer.
Documentation
Download and Terms of Use
GrAL is open source .
GrAL is available free of charge,
its use is subject to this license (MIT license).
To get it from GitHub, there are different options:
- Using Git:
Just clone the repository, using the command
git clone https://github.com/gberti/gral.git
- Using subversion:
To checkout the code,
follow the instructions for using svn on GitHub, using the following repository URL:
https://github.com/gberti/gral.git
- Download a snapshot of the current repository from
https://github.com/gberti/gral/archive/master.zip.
Contact and Communication
For inquiries concerning GrAL, contact Guntram Berti
Some Papers on GrAL
- G. Berti:
GrAL - the Grid Algorithms Library,
Future Generation Computer Systems, 22, pp. 110-122, 2006.
Abstract |
BibTeX |
PDF
Most recent paper on GrAL.
-
G. Berti:
A Generic Toolbox for the Grid Craftsman
17th GAMM-Seminar Leipzig on
``Construction of Grid Generation Algorithms'',
Leipzig, february 1-3, 2001.
Abstract |
Postscript (gzipped, 496 KB) |
PDF (414 KB)
The paper shows how to use generic tools for the
task of hybrid grid generation.
- G. Berti:
Generic Software Components for Scientific Computing
PhD Dissertation, TU Cottbus, 2000.
Gives a detailed in-depth treatment of the ideas underlying GrAL.
- G. Berti:
Generic Components for Grid Data Structures and Algorithms with C++
First C++ Template Programming Workshop , October 10, 2000.
Abstract |
Postscript (gzipped, 462 KB) |
PDF (645 KB) |
HTML
This paper treats in particular some aspects related to grid functions.
- G. Bader, G. Berti:
Design Principles of Reusable Software Components
for the Numerical Solution of PDE Problems ,
presented at the 14th GAMM-Seminar Kiel on
Concepts of Numerical Software , January 23rd to 25th, 1998.
Abstract |
PS (.ps.gz, 270 KB)
Somewhat dated now, but the principal ideas are still valid.
- G. Berti.
Generic programming support for mesh partitioning based
parallelization.
In Jörg Striegnitz and Kei Davis, editors, Proceedings of the Workshop
on Parallel/High-Performance Object-Oriented Scientific Computing
(POOSC'03), number IB-2003-09 in NIC series, pages 15-30.
Forschungszentrum Jülich, July 2003.
Abstract |
BibTeX |
PDF
- G. Berti:
Concepts for parallel numerical solution of PDEs
appeared in Proceedings of
FVCA-II ,
Edition Hermes 1999
Abstract |
PS
(.ps.gz, 130 KB)
Describes some ideas for the parallelization of grid-based computations,
implemented in GrAL
(module gral/distributed ).