Netlib
Encyclopedia
Netlib is a repository of software for scientific computing maintained by AT&T
, Bell Laboratories, the University of Tennessee
and Oak Ridge National Laboratory
. Netlib comprises a large number of separate programs and libraries. Most of the code is written in Fortran
, with some programs in other languages.
distribution on UUCP
, ARPANET
and CSNET
in the 1980s..
The code base of Netlib was written at a time when computer software was not yet considered a merchandise. Therefore, no license terms or terms of use are stated for many programs. Most of the code is work of US government employees and therefore in the public domain
. This is clearly the case for SLATEC
. The legal status of some other packages is not entirely clear.
Netlib is indexed by the Guide to Available Mathematical Software
.
The SLATEC
package is special in that it comprises a number of other packages like BLAS and LINPACK.
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
, Bell Laboratories, the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
and Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
. Netlib comprises a large number of separate programs and libraries. Most of the code is written in Fortran
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
, with some programs in other languages.
History
The project began with emailEmail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
distribution on UUCP
UUCP
UUCP is an abbreviation for Unix-to-Unix Copy. The term generally refers to a suite of computer programs and protocols allowing remote execution of commands and transfer of files, email and netnews between computers. Specifically, a command named uucp is one of the programs in the suite; it...
, ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
and CSNET
CSNET
The Computer Science Network was a computer network that began operation in 1981 in the United States. Its purpose was to extend networking benefits, for computer science departments at academic and research institutions that could not be directly connected to ARPANET, due to funding or...
in the 1980s..
The code base of Netlib was written at a time when computer software was not yet considered a merchandise. Therefore, no license terms or terms of use are stated for many programs. Most of the code is work of US government employees and therefore in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
. This is clearly the case for SLATEC
SLATEC
SLATEC Common Mathematical Library is a FORTRAN 77 library of over 1400 general purpose mathematical and statistical routines. The code was developed at US Government research laboratories, and is in the public domain....
. The legal status of some other packages is not entirely clear.
Netlib is indexed by the Guide to Available Mathematical Software
Guide to Available Mathematical Software
The Guide to Available Mathematical Software is a project of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to classify mathematical software by the type of problem that it solves. GAMS indexes Netlib, and also some proprietary software packages....
.
Contents
Some well-known packages maintained in Netlib are:- Basic Linear Algebra SubprogramsBasic Linear Algebra SubprogramsBasic Linear Algebra Subprograms is a de facto application programming interface standard for publishing libraries to perform basic linear algebra operations such as vector and matrix multiplication. They were first published in 1979, and are used to build larger packages such as LAPACK...
(BLAS) - EISPACKEISPACKEISPACK is a software library for numerical computation of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of matrices, written in FORTRAN. It contains subroutines for calculating the eigenvalues of nine classes of matrices: complex general, complex Hermitian, real general, real symmetric, real symmetric banded,...
- LAPACKLAPACK-External links:* : a modern replacement for PLAPACK and ScaLAPACK* on Netlib.org* * * : a modern replacement for LAPACK that is MultiGPU ready* on Sourceforge.net* * optimized LAPACK for Solaris OS on SPARC/x86/x64 and Linux* * *...
- LINPACKLINPACKLINPACK is a software library for performing numerical linear algebra on digital computers. It was written in Fortran by Jack Dongarra, Jim Bunch, Cleve Moler, and Gilbert Stewart, and was intended for use on supercomputers in the 1970s and early 1980s...
- MINPACKMINPACKMINPACK is a library of FORTRAN subroutines for the solving of systems of nonlinear equations, or the least squares minimization of the residual of a set of linear or nonlinear equations....
- QUADPACKQUADPACKQUADPACK is a FORTRAN 77 library for numerical integration of one-dimensional functions. It was included in the SLATEC Common Mathematical Library and is therefore in the public domain. The individual subprograms are also available on netlib....
The SLATEC
SLATEC
SLATEC Common Mathematical Library is a FORTRAN 77 library of over 1400 general purpose mathematical and statistical routines. The code was developed at US Government research laboratories, and is in the public domain....
package is special in that it comprises a number of other packages like BLAS and LINPACK.
Other uses
- NetLib is also the name of a database encryptionEncryptionIn cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
software company.
Other projects
- GNU Scientific LibraryGNU Scientific LibraryIn computing, the GNU Scientific Library is a software library written in the C programming language for numerical calculations in applied mathematics and science...
(GSL), written in C and distributed under the GNU General Public LicenseGNU General Public LicenseThe GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
.