In August Intel took over ownership of Visual Fortran. The latest release, version 6.6, is still badged 'Compaq'. Subsequent releases will all be labelled 'Intel Visual Fortran'. Users of version 6.5 may download the version 6.6 update from www.compaq.com/fortran . Anyone who has difficulty with the download may borrow the software on CD from Computer Transition Systems. The principal improvements in version 6.6 are optimisations for P4, real*8, and logical*8. Current prices are: Pro Edition is $1661 - updates $624.50; Standard Edition is $1243 - updates $415.80. Academic prices are Pro $1083.50 - updates $415.80. Standard $808.50 - updates $311.30. We anticipate that all upgrade prices will increase by 50% after 31 December. A single user network licence (called concurrent 1) is now available. We can provide 30 day evaluation copies of Visual Fortran standard edition on request. We strongly recommend that Visual Fortran owners register their compiler with Compaq (http://www.compaq.com/fortran/register/index.html). The informative Visual Fortran Newsletter is automatically emailed to registered users of Visual Fortran. The most recent newsletter issue is X. It appeared in September. Implementations of both the NCAR and GKS libraries for VF are available free to non commercial users at www.fpp.uni-lj.si/~milan/ncarg and www.fpp.uni-lj.si/~milan/gks.

For historical reasons, most number crunching codes are written in FORTRAN. Consequently FORTRAN has the largest amount of support (tools, libraries, etc.) for parallel computing. Many programmers now use C or re- write existing FORTRAN applications in C with the notion the C will allow faster execution. While this can be true since C is the closest thing to a universal machine code, it has some major drawbacks. In particular the use of pointers in C makes determining data dependencies all but impossible. If you have an existing FORTRAN program and think that you might want to parallelize it in the future - DO NOT CONVERT IT TO C. The Lahey LF95 for Linux and the Absoft Pro Fortran for Linux are excellent Fortran compilers for use on Beowulf clusters.

.NET is a recent Microsoft project that 'focuses on distributed computing and software development productivity.' Many aspects have not been finalized so .NET is very much a 'work in progress'. One of the major features of .NET is complete interoperability with other .NET languages. The mechanics are that all compilers generate Microsoft Intermediate Lang-uage (MSIL), rather than native, machine code. A just-in-time (JIT) compiler provided by the .NET framework then compiles and links the MSIL for execution when an object is needed.

So what is a TCP/IP socket? The TCP/IP socket is an IPC (Interprocess Communication) device that exists at the top of the network protocol stack. It provides a connection-oriented socket that is used to deal with the actual TCP/IP protocol. The Win32 socket API insures that the designated recipient receives messages. SciSnetTM implements a socket server and client on each machine. The server handles all the inbound and outbound streams to and from other servers on the network. The local client transparently communicates through the local server with other clients on the network. Normally TCP/IP sockets communicate via streams, but SciSnetTM has packaged the byte streams as discrete messages with header and acknowledgments.

With current hardware technology, it is easy to configure a set of Intel Pentium4 PCs for a highly parallel distributed-processing task. Certainly, there is plenty of memory bandwidth for each processor (3.2GB/s) and even 133 MB/s available for the PCI bus. Very inexpensive interconnects can be installed using PCI Ethernet cards (100 mbs) with category 5 copper and Ethernet hubs. The new PCI based SCSI 160 adapters easily obtain 40 MB/s transfer rates over low-voltage differential-pair connected SCSI disks (73 GB). Using these readily available building blocks it is possible to design a distributed real-time processing system suitable for substantial data collection, processing, and recording. Applications that come to mind would include radar signal processing, imaging processing, and real-time event recording systems such as nuclear accelerators.

How can SciSnet help Fortran users? In such systems, the SciSnetTM library enables any pair of machines to communicate at very substantial transfer rates. On an Ethernet (10/100), sustained transfer rates of 10 MB/s have been measured which is up to 80% of the full 100 mb/s available. The library allows multiple parallel packet transfers between two or among many machines. Distributor or commutator type applications can easily be designed. With such configurations, it is possible to have a data generator or gatherer machine provide data streams to multiple processor machines, taking advantage of parallel data processing. There are simple examples in the SciSnetTM, manual. One example program, TNET.F90, allows a developer to bring up a socket server, open a socket to a remote machine, query status of the connection, send messages, receive messages, and flush pending messages. In TNET. F90 all SciSnetTM functions are used

There are two development environments available for applications: the Compiler IDE or a DOS window. In the IDE, Fortran users can create network projects utilizing a graphics windows interface (GUI), or a Fortran console window. In a DOS window, Fortran users can utilize a BAT file or the command line interface to develop applications. Under either environment, SciSnetTM can be integrated with other libraries since the SciSnetTM library is multi-threaded and compatible with Win32 API development.

SciSnet is $440. Versions are available for LF95, LF90, Absoft Pro Fortran, Compaq Visual Fortran, and Microsoft PowerStation as well as most C/C++ compilers - Absoft Pro, Borland, Visual, Symantic, and Watcom.

If you have been using F77LEM/32 or F77L but now wish to have ease of use with Windows 95, 98, NT, or 2000 then LF95 Express ($561) is the logical choice. LF95 consists of the LF95 compiler, a linker, and a debugger. An editor is not provided. The operation of the compiler and debugger are command line. LF95 Express is also is also available for Linux. It is an excellent compiler for use on Beowulf clusters.

Tecplot is the powerful and flexible data visualization software producted by Amtec Engineering. It should be of interest to anyone who needs to understand complex three dimensional data or needs to produce high quality technical diagrams for publication or presentation. Tecplot version 9 was released recently. Major enhancements in this release include massively faster rendering, improved slicing, iso-surface & streamtrace tools, new view controls, numerous algorithm improvements, user defined curve fits, configurable raster image formats, and vibrant true colour. Whatever your visualization needs, Tecplot will improve your plotting analysis and presentation. It gives you the versatility and power to produce fast, accurate plots. Evaluation copies can be downloaded from our website -www.cts.com.au/tecplot.html. Considerable information on Tecplot can be found on this site. Amtec (www.amtec.com) host a useful discussion group for Tecplot users.

Global optimization software can be used to find the optimal solution of complex models that have a large number of minima or maxima which may be similar in magnitude (see illustration to the left. Computer Transition Systems is the Australasian representative of Pinter Consulting Services, developers of the LGO global optimisation package. LGO is based on award-winning research; it uses a suite of robust and efficient global and local scope search algorithms to find the best solution of complex nonlinear models. Model visualization facilities are also built into the MS Windows version of LGO, to assist the user in checking the model and the results obtained. LGO is available in several configuration sizes (from a maximum of 20 variables and 20 constraints to an unlimited number of variables and constraints). Educational and not-for-profit research licenses, and customized versions are available for personal computers and workstations. The price of the 20 variable/ 20 constraint version of LGO for Windows is $2695 (academic $1595). the price for unlimited variables/constraints is $8800 (academic $5500).

 Examples of application areas for LGO include inverse model fitting (calibration), 'black box' (confidential) model tuning and optimisation, data classification, non-linear approximation including general surface fitting, solution of systems of non-linear equations, minimal energy problems in computational physics and chemistry, chemo- and radio-therapy optimisation, optimised tuning /operation of equipment and instruments, and robust product/mixture design in the chemical process (and other) industries.

For further information, please contact Computer Transition Systems. Professional information regarding LGO and the underlying research is summarised on the Web pages of the senior developer, Dr. J.D. Pinter; see http://is.dal.ca/~jdpinter/.

Fewer and fewer cpus are being evaluated with the SPEC benchmarks. The most noticeable absences are the PowerPC chip and the processors used in supercomputers. In order of merit (high numbers are better) the best floating point results (www.specbench.org/osg/cpu2000/results/cfp200.html) for various processors are 2GHz P4 (RD ram) 704, 800 Mhz HP Itanium 655, 833 Mhz Alpha21264B 643, 1.3 Ghz P4 557, 500MHz SGI R14000 436, 900Mhz UltraSparc III 427, 550MHz HP PA8600 400, 1.3 Ghz Athlon (ddr ram) 414, 1.3 Ghz Athlon (normal ram) 348, 750 Mhz RS6000 64 IV . 359. In these results which are for computationally intensive Fortran programs the 1.3 Ghz P4 is 1.3 times faster than a 1.3 Ghz Athlon!

Winteracter is a very flexible graphics and user interface library for Windows, Linux, and Sun. Winteracter version 4.0 will be released at the end of November. Improvements over version 3.1 are in five major areas . the resource editor, graphics text handling, import/export file handling, operating system interface, and user interface.

Resource Editor - A new resource editor lies at the core of Winteracter v4.0. The new editor combines the functionality of the four previously separate dialog, menu, icon/cursor and toolbar editors. The new editor greatly streamlines GUI design and management of the associated resource files. Navigation of dialogs, menus, etc. is now much easier, with the entire contents of the program resource accessible via a single treeview. There is no need to constantly load the resource into multiple tools. The combined editor also provides greater consistency of behaviour when editing different resource types and features numerous minor enhancements.

Graphics Text Handling Winteracter's graphics text handling has undergone a major redesign in v4.0, providing a much more concise calling interface and additional functionality. While the old calling interfaces remain supported, most programs will benefit from the new interface. New features include access to any Windows font in GDI graphics output to screen, bitmap, printer or metafile. The need for external software font files has also been eliminated. Opaque text is now supported, as is direct output of numeric values.

Graphics Import/Export Winteracter's graphics output and import capabilities have been further expanded at v4.0. The CGM importer has been substantially upgraded to read a much wider range of third party metafiles. BMP, PCX and PNG bit image files loaded via IGrLoadImage are now reproduced in graphics output via the Print Manager, Windows metafile, CGM and raster image/hardcopy drivers. Version 4 also generates smaller CGM and DXF files.

Operating System Interface New operating system interfaces features include: Generation of temporary file/directory names, routines to get/set file attributes, drive serial number information and simplified access to file size/date/time information.

User Interface As always, version 4.0 features various general user interface enhancements, including: Mouse double click recognition, child windows inside other child windows, improved wheel-mouse support and immediate access to spinner field values as they change.

Version 4.0 upgrades are $440 ($352 academic) from Winteracter 3.1, $638 ($517) from Winteracter 3.0, and $869 ($693) from earlier versions of Winteracter.

The student version of the FortranPlus compiler produced by NA Software has been improved significantly in the current release. It is now allows up to 2000 lines per file (as opposed to the original 200). There is no limit to the number of files which can be linked together so the 2000 lines per file limit although a nuisance is not a major limitation. Prices for FortranPlus have all increased recently. The student edition for Linux or Windows is now $130 plus $13 GST. It may be purchased by anyone . not just students.

The most recent patch file for LF95 version 6.0 for Linux allows the compiler to work properly with recent Linux distributions. Those with earlier versions of the compiler may upgrade to 6.0 for $335.50

MicroGlyph Systems has released version 7 of their Sciplot graphics library. Sciplot is a simple to use, Calcomp compatible 2D graphics library available for most 32 bit Fortran and C compilers. An extensive range of export file types can be produced by Sciplot.