Help: Hints, FAQs, etc.

GLUT on CygWin

• If you have MinGW installed GLUT should work if you have the following files ( download glut-win32.zip ) either in your working directory or in the following standard locations:
• 1. glut.h in C:\MinGW\include
• 2. libglut32.a in C:\MinGW\lib
• 3. glut32.dll in C:\Windows\System32
• To compile an OpenGL GLUT program, do

    >  g++  myprogram.cpp  -lopengl32  -lglu32  -lglut32
  

Gnuplot

• You can dowload Gnuplot for Windows from http://gnuplot.info/.
• For additional help, check out the Gnuplot not so Frequently Asked Questions

How to Debug Mathematica Code

• The simplest strategy is to put a Print statement to print variables at the point where you think the error might be.
• You can also examine the steps Mathematica uses with the Trace function.
• If you double-click on a .m file, Mathematica opens it in a special editor window, which has an option to turn on debugging.

Dev-C++ cannot find sstream

• The latest version has fixed this problem, see the FAQ in this Dev-C++ Tutorial

Java prints too many significant figures

• Use the Java Formatter class, see this simple example

Flaky Mathematica Behavior

• If you are debugging a .m file and load it repeatedly into the same Mathematica session you might encounter unexpected behavior. This is because a Mathematica session is an interpreted environment, which is modified by every expression it evaluates. Strange behavior might be due to a definition conflict between variables or functions in the old and new versions of your code. Unexpected behavior may also occur if you load two or more different and incompatible codes into the same notebook. This can usually be fixed by clearing the properties of all Global variables with the command

  Clear["Global`*"]
  

  A more drastic step is to

  Remove["Global`*"]
  

  Try inserting one of these as the first line of your .m file. If this does not work, you can try to restart the Kernel, or just Quit and restart Mathematica.

Mathematica 6.0 problem with displaying plots

• Version 5 Graphics which is compatible with Version 6. The workaround is to check the Graphics version and load the Version 5 Graphics package if you are running Version 6. To use Version 5 graphics in Version 6, insert the following statement at the start of the file:

  If[$VersionNumber >= 6., <<Version5`Graphics`];
  

Newline problems on Windows

• Some Windows programs like Excel and Notepad have problems reading data files created by C++ programs. This is because Windows (DOS) and Unix (Linux, Mac OS) interpret newlines differently.
• There are free utilities you can use to fix these data files for use in Excel, for example Unix2Dos or ToFroWin.

Free C++ Compilers for Windows

• Command line: MinGW. This is the one I used in class. Works well with Windows XP. I have not tested it with Vista.
• Integrated Development Environment (IDE): Dev-C++. Many students have used this successfully in past semesters. Works well with Windows XP, but has not been updated for Windows Vista.
• Cygwin, a Linux-like environment for Windows. This is more comprehensive than MinGW. Not recommended unless you are a Unix or Linux expert.

Using UB Computer Systems

• If you do not have your own computer, you can use UB computer systems:
• Apply for an account on the Physics Computer Cluster
• Use your UBITName to use UBUnix systems
• Apply for a SENS Account to use the SENS Computer Systems
• All of these systems have C++, Mathematica, Gnuplot, ...