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[Chee Yap]

===================== SOFTWARE RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT ==========================

August 10, 2002:
Core Library Version 1.5 is now available for free download at
	
		http://cs.nyu.edu/exact/core/

The Core Library (CORE) is a collection of C/C++ classes to support 
computation with constructible real numbers (+,-,x,/,sqrt), under a variety
of precision requirements.

Numerical nonrobustness is a widely acknowledged problem.  It has proven
particularly intractable in the context of geometric algorithms where
numerical data and combinatorial data are intermixed in a strongly constrained
manner.  Recent research in computational geometry has
demonstrated a variety of techniques based on the principles of
Exact Geometric Computation (EGC) that can address such problems.
A basic goal of our library is to make such techniques easily accessible to 
the wider community of programmers and researchers.

Basic CORE Features:
   -- ease of use:
	Any C/C++ programmer can write numerical or geometric
	code that are fully robust just by calling our Library.
   -- ease of migration:
	Many existing C/C++ programs can be converted into robust CORE
	programs with minimal effort.
   -- natural and novel numerical accuracy model:
	Users can choose and get the numerical accuracy that best fit
	their applications. 
   -- state of art technology:
	The precision-driven approach to EGC, best known root bounds,
	filter technology, etc, will be incorporated into the library
	as the field progresses.  In this way, the user's application program
	will automatically be upgraded (at the cost of re-compilation).
   -- small system:
	It can serve as the "robust core" of your own applications.
	About 550KB (including source, extensions, demos)
	when gmp and documentation is not included.  Otherwise, the full
	distribution is 3.6MB.
   -- extensively tested on Sun Sparc, Linux, cygwin and Windows platforms.

What is new with CORE 1.5 ?
   -- Faster code (can be significantly faster than CORE 1.4)
   -- Introduce headers for compiling CGAL with Core Library,
	made compatibility modifications, and sample CGAL programs
   -- Introduce namespace CORE
   -- Improved root bounds (can be significant)
   -- Improved Expression evaluation algorithms
   -- Streamlined code for Expr and Real (mainly through template classes)
   -- Level 2 and 4 programs can now be compiled (with limited support)
   -- Header files (i.e., API) for Expr and Real are mutually consistent
	(this was necessary to support Level 2 accuracy)
   -- More sample programs:
	(a) improved hypergeometric package (all the elementary functions
	    in math.h are now available in Core)
	(b) polynomial package with Sturm sequences and Newton 
	    iteration for polynomail roots 
   -- Compatibility with gmp 4.1, and g++ 3.1
   -- Updated Core Library Tutorial
   -- Bug fixes:
	(a) bad initial root bound values for some constants (e.g., Expr(1.0))
	(b) uMSB, lMSB (in Real, BigFloat, Filter classes)
	(c) BigInt::ceilLg

We welcome your comments and input.

-- Chee Yap (yap at cs.nyu.edu)
   Sylvain Pion (pion at cs.nyu.edu)
   Zilin Du (zilin at cs.nyu.edu)
   August 10, 2002

                         |============================================= 
                         | Exact Computation Project
                         | Department of Computer Science
                         | Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
                         | New York University
                         | 251 Mercer Street
                         | New York, NY 10012, USA
                         | 
                         | For further information:
                         |    http://cs.nyu.edu/exact/
                         |    mailto://exact@cs.nyu.edu.
                         | 
                         | Supported by NSF/ITR Grant CCR-0082056.
                         |============================================= 

===================== SOFTWARE RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT ==========================

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