NCAlgebra - Version 5.0.3

Thanks for your interest in NCAlgebra.

The latest version of NCAlgebra can be downloaded from:

https://github.com/NCAlgebra/NC

Additional information, including old releases and historical examples, is available at:

http://math.ucsd.edu/~ncalg

Automatic Installation and Updates

Starting with version 5.0.1, the easiest way to download and install NCAlgebra is using the NCWebInstall script. Just type:

Import["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NCAlgebra/NC/master/NCExtras/NCWebInstall.m"];

on the Mathematica Kernel or FrontEnd and follow the instructions to download and install NCAlgebra.

This method will always install the latest available stable release available in the branch master. It may be ahead of the latest release.

Alternatively you can download and install NCAlgebra as outlined below.

Automatic updates are also available using:

<< NCWebUpdate`
NCUpdate

checks the main repository for the latest version and run NCWebInstall.

Manual installation

Skip this section if you installed with NCWebInstall.

Downloading

You can download NCAlgebra in one of the following ways.

Via git clone

You can clone the repository using git:

git clone https://github.com/NCAlgebra/NC

This will create a directory NC which contains all files neeeded to run NCAlgebra in any platform.

Cloning allows you to easily upgrade and switch between the various available releases. If you want to try the latest experimental version switch to branch devel using:

git checkout devel

If you're happy with the latest stable release you do not need to do anything.

From the github download button

After you downloaded a zip file from github use your favorite zip utility to unpack the file NC-master.zip or NC-devel.zip on your favorite location.

IMPORTANT: Rename the top directory NC!

From one of our releases

Releases are stable snapshots that you can find at

https://github.com/NCAlgebra/NC/releases

IMPORTANT: Rename the top directory NC!

Earlier releases can be downloaded from:

www.math.ucsd.edu/~ncalg

Releases in github are also branches so you can easily switch from version to version using git.

Post-download installation

All that is needed for NCAlgebra to run is that its top directory, the NC directory, be on Mathematica's search path.

If you are on a unix flavored machine (Solaris, Linux, Mac OSX) then unpacking or cloning in your home directory (~) is all you need to do.

Otherwise, you may need to add the installation directory to Mathematica's search path. This is done automatically for you if you used NCWebInstall.

If you are experienced with Mathematica:

Edit the main Mathematica init.m file (not the one inside the NC directory) to add the name of the directory which contains the NC folder to the Mathematica variable $Path, as in:

AppendTo[$Path,"/Users/YourName/"];

You can locate your user init.m file by typing:

FileNameJoin[{$UserBaseDirectory, "Kernel", "init.m"}]

in Mathematica.

Running NCAlgebra

In Mathematica (notebook or text interface), type

<< NC`

If this fails, your installation has problems (check out previous section). If your installation is succesful you will see a message like:

You are using the version of NCAlgebra which is found in:
  /your_home_directory/NC.
You can now use "<< NCAlgebra`" to load NCAlgebra.

Just type

<< NCAlgebra`

to load NCAlgebra

Now what?

Extensive documentation is found in the directory DOCUMENTATION.

An online version of the manual is also available.

Basic documentation is provided on the project Wiki:

https://github.com/NCAlgebra/NC/wiki

You may want to try some of the several demo files in the directory DEMOS after you install NCAlgebra.

You can also run some tests to see if things are working fine.

Testing

You do not need to load NCAlgebra before running any of the tests below, but you need to load NC as in

<< NC`

There are 3 test sets which you can use to troubleshoot parts of NCAlgebra. The most comprehensive test set is run by typing:

<< NCTEST

This will test the core functionality of NCAlgebra.

You can test functionality related to the package NCPoly, including the new NCGBX package NCGBX, by typing:

<< NCPOLYTEST

Finally our Semidefinite Programming Solver NCSDP can be tested with

<< NCSDPTEST

We recommend that you restart the kernel before and after running tests. Each test takes a few minutes to run.

You can also call

<< NCPOLYTESGB

to perform extensive and long testing of NCGBX.

NCGB

The old C++ version of our Groebner Basis Algorithm still ships with this version and can be loaded using:

<< NCGB`

This will at once load NCAlgebra and NCGB. It can be tested using

<< NCGBTEST

Reporting Bugs

Please report any bug or your extraordinarily pleasant experience with NCAlgebra by email

[email protected]

Thanks,

Bill Helton and Mauricio de Oliveira