xref: /libCEED/doc/sphinx/source/releasenotes.md (revision 480fae850cb0898970f2dd40c5ea1abc8a8b0488)
1# Changes/Release Notes
2
3On this page we provide a summary of the main API changes, new features and examples
4for each release of libCEED.
5
6(main)=
7
8## Current `main` branch
9
10### Interface changes
11
12- Update {c:func}`CeedQFunctionGetFields` and {c:func}`CeedOperatorGetFields` to include number of fields.
13- Promote to the public API: QFunction and Operator field objects, `CeedQFunctionField` and `CeedOperatorField`, and associated getters, {c:func}`CeedQFunctionGetFields`; {c:func}`CeedQFunctionFieldGetName`; {c:func}`CeedQFunctionFieldGetSize`; {c:func}`CeedQFunctionFieldGetEvalMode`; {c:func}`CeedOperatorGetFields`; {c:func}`CeedOperatorFieldGetElemRestriction`; {c:func}`CeedOperatorFieldGetBasis`; and {c:func}`CeedOperatorFieldGetVector`.
14- Clarify and document conditions where `CeedQFunction` and `CeedOperator` become immutable and no further fields or suboperators can be added.
15- Add {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssembleQFunctionBuildOrUpdate` to reduce object creation overhead in assembly of CeedOperator preconditioning ingredients.
16- Promote {c:func}`CeedOperatorCheckReady`to the public API to facilitate interactive interfaces.
17- Warning added when compiling OCCA backend to alert users that this backend is experimental.
18- `ceed-backend.h`, `ceed-hash.h`, and `ceed-khash.h` removed. Users should use `ceed/backend.h`, `ceed/hash.h`, and `ceed/khash.h`.
19- Added {c:func}`CeedQFunctionGetKernelName`; refactored {c:func}`CeedQFunctionGetSourcePath` to exclude function kernel name.
20- Clarify documentation for {c:func}`CeedVectorTakeArray`; this function will error if {c:func}`CeedVectorSetArray` with `copy_mode == CEED_USE_POINTER` was not previously called for the corresponding `CeedMemType`.
21- Added {c:func}`CeedVectorGetArrayWrite` that allows access to uninitalized arrays; require initalized data for {c:func}`CeedVectorGetArray`.
22- Added {c:func}`CeedQFunctionContextRegisterDouble` and {c:func}`CeedQFunctionContextRegisterInt32` with {c:func}`CeedQFunctionContextSetDouble` and {c:func}`CeedQFunctionContextSetInt32` to facilitate easy updating of {c:struct}`CeedQFunctionContext` data by user defined field names.
23- Added {c:func}`CeedQFunctionContextGetFieldDescriptions` to retreive user defined descriptions of fields that are registered with `CeedQFunctionContextRegister*`.
24- Renamed `CeedElemTopology` entries for clearer namespacing between libCEED enums.
25- Added type `CeedSize` equivalent to `ptrdiff_t` for array sizes in {c:func}`CeedVectorCreate`, {c:func}`CeedVectorGetLength`, `CeedElemRestrictionCreate*`, {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionGetLVectorSize`, and {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssembleSymbolic`. This is a breaking change.
26
27### New features
28
29- `CeedScalar` can now be set as `float` or `double` at compile time.
30- Added JiT utilities in `ceed/jit-tools.h` to reduce duplicated code in GPU backends.
31- Added support for JiT of QFunctions with `#include "relative/path/local-file.h"` statements for additional local files. Note that files included with `""` are searched relative to the current file first, then by compiler paths (as with `<>` includes). To use this feature, one should adhere to relative paths only, not compiler flags like `-I`, which the JiT will not be aware of.
32- Remove need to guard library headers in QFunction source for code generation backends.
33- `CeedDebugEnv()` macro created to provide debugging outputs when Ceed context is not present.
34- Added {c:func}`CeedStringAllocCopy` to reduce repeated code for copying strings internally.
35- Added {c:func}`CeedPathConcatenate` to facilitate loading kernel source files with a path relative to the current file.
36- Added support for non-tensor H(div) elements, to include CPU backend implementations and {c:func}`CeedBasisCreateHdiv` convenience constructor.
37- Added {c:func}`CeedQFunctionSetContextWritable` and read-only access to `CeedQFunctionContext` data as an optional feature to improve GPU performance. By default, calling the `CeedQFunctionUser` during {c:func}`CeedQFunctionApply` is assumed to write into the `CeedQFunctionContext` data, consistent with the previous behavior. Note that if a user asserts that their `CeedQFunctionUser` does not write into the `CeedQFunctionContext` data, they are responsible for the validity of this assertion.
38
39### Maintainability
40
41- Refactored preconditioner support internally to facilitate future development and improve GPU completeness/test coverage.
42- `Include-what-you-use` makefile target added as `make iwyu`.
43- Create backend constant `CEED_FIELD_MAX` to reduce magic numbers in codebase.
44- Put GPU JiTed kernel source code into separate files.
45- Dropped legacy version support in PETSc based examples to better utilize PETSc DMPlex and Mat updates to support libCEED; current minimum PETSc version for the examples is v3.17.
46
47(v0-9)=
48
49## v0.9 (Jul 6, 2021)
50
51### Interface changes
52
53- Minor modification in error handling macro to silence pedantic warnings when compiling with Clang, but no functional impact.
54
55### New features
56
57- Add {c:func}`CeedVectorAXPY` and {c:func}`CeedVectorPointwiseMult` as a convenience for stand-alone testing and internal use.
58- Add `CEED_QFUNCTION_HELPER` macro to properly annotate QFunction helper functions for code generation backends.
59- Add `CeedPragmaOptimizeOff` macro for code that is sensitive to floating point errors from fast math optimizations.
60- Rust support: split `libceed-sys` crate out of `libceed` and [publish both on crates.io](https://crates.io/crates/libceed).
61
62### Performance improvements
63
64### Examples
65
66- Solid mechanics mini-app updated to explore the performance impacts of various formulations in the initial and current configurations.
67- Fluid mechanics example adds GPU support and improves modularity.
68
69### Deprecated backends
70
71- The `/cpu/self/tmpl` and `/cpu/self/tmpl/sub` backends have been removed. These backends were intially added to test the backend inheritance mechanism, but this mechanism is now widely used and tested in multiple backends.
72
73(v0-8)=
74
75## v0.8 (Mar 31, 2021)
76
77### Interface changes
78
79- Error handling improved to include enumerated error codes for C interface return values.
80- Installed headers that will follow semantic versioning were moved to {code}`include/ceed` directory. These headers have been renamed from {code}`ceed-*.h` to {code}`ceed/*.h`. Placeholder headers with the old naming schema are currently provided, but these headers will be removed in the libCEED v0.9 release.
81
82### New features
83
84- Julia and Rust interfaces added, providing a nearly 1-1 correspondence with the C interface, plus some convenience features.
85- Static libraries can be built with `make STATIC=1` and the pkg-config file is installed accordingly.
86- Add {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssembleSymbolic` and {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssemble` to support full assembly of libCEED operators.
87
88### Performance improvements
89
90- New HIP MAGMA backends for hipMAGMA library users: `/gpu/hip/magma` and `/gpu/hip/magma/det`.
91- New HIP backends for improved tensor basis performance: `/gpu/hip/shared` and `/gpu/hip/gen`.
92
93### Examples
94
95- {ref}`example-petsc-elasticity` example updated with traction boundary conditions and improved Dirichlet boundary conditions.
96- {ref}`example-petsc-elasticity` example updated with Neo-Hookean hyperelasticity in current configuration as well as improved Neo-Hookean hyperelasticity exploring storage vs computation tradeoffs.
97- {ref}`example-petsc-navier-stokes` example updated with isentropic traveling vortex test case, an analytical solution to the Euler equations that is useful for testing boundary conditions, discretization stability, and order of accuracy.
98- {ref}`example-petsc-navier-stokes` example updated with support for performing convergence study and plotting order of convergence by polynomial degree.
99
100(v0-7)=
101
102## v0.7 (Sep 29, 2020)
103
104### Interface changes
105
106- Replace limited {code}`CeedInterlaceMode` with more flexible component stride {code}`compstride` in {code}`CeedElemRestriction` constructors.
107  As a result, the {code}`indices` parameter has been replaced with {code}`offsets` and the {code}`nnodes` parameter has been replaced with {code}`lsize`.
108  These changes improve support for mixed finite element methods.
109- Replace various uses of {code}`Ceed*Get*Status` with {code}`Ceed*Is*` in the backend API to match common nomenclature.
110- Replace {code}`CeedOperatorAssembleLinearDiagonal` with {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssembleDiagonal` for clarity.
111- Linear Operators can be assembled as point-block diagonal matrices with {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssemblePointBlockDiagonal`, provided in row-major form in a {code}`ncomp` by {code}`ncomp` block per node.
112- Diagonal assemble interface changed to accept a {ref}`CeedVector` instead of a pointer to a {ref}`CeedVector` to reduce memory movement when interfacing with calling code.
113- Added {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssembleAddDiagonal` and {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssembleAddPointBlockDiagonal` for improved future integration with codes such as MFEM that compose the action of {ref}`CeedOperator`s external to libCEED.
114- Added {c:func}`CeedVectorTakeAray` to sync and remove libCEED read/write access to an allocated array and pass ownership of the array to the caller.
115  This function is recommended over {c:func}`CeedVectorSyncArray` when the {code}`CeedVector` has an array owned by the caller that was set by {c:func}`CeedVectorSetArray`.
116- Added {code}`CeedQFunctionContext` object to manage user QFunction context data and reduce copies between device and host memory.
117- Added {c:func}`CeedOperatorMultigridLevelCreate`, {c:func}`CeedOperatorMultigridLevelCreateTensorH1`, and {c:func}`CeedOperatorMultigridLevelCreateH1` to facilitate creation of multigrid prolongation, restriction, and coarse grid operators using a common quadrature space.
118
119### New features
120
121- New HIP backend: `/gpu/hip/ref`.
122- CeedQFunction support for user `CUfunction`s in some backends
123
124### Performance improvements
125
126- OCCA backend rebuilt to facilitate future performance enhancements.
127- Petsc BPs suite improved to reduce noise due to multiple calls to {code}`mpiexec`.
128
129### Examples
130
131- {ref}`example-petsc-elasticity` example updated with strain energy computation and more flexible boundary conditions.
132
133### Deprecated backends
134
135- The `/gpu/cuda/reg` backend has been removed, with its core features moved into `/gpu/cuda/ref` and `/gpu/cuda/shared`.
136
137(v0-6)=
138
139## v0.6 (Mar 29, 2020)
140
141libCEED v0.6 contains numerous new features and examples, as well as expanded
142documentation in [this new website](https://libceed.readthedocs.io).
143
144### New features
145
146- New Python interface using [CFFI](https://cffi.readthedocs.io/) provides a nearly
147  1-1 correspondence with the C interface, plus some convenience features.  For instance,
148  data stored in the {cpp:type}`CeedVector` structure are available without copy as
149  {py:class}`numpy.ndarray`.  Short tutorials are provided in
150  [Binder](https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/CEED/libCEED/main?urlpath=lab/tree/examples/tutorials/).
151- Linear QFunctions can be assembled as block-diagonal matrices (per quadrature point,
152  {c:func}`CeedOperatorAssembleLinearQFunction`) or to evaluate the diagonal
153  ({c:func}`CeedOperatorAssembleLinearDiagonal`).  These operations are useful for
154  preconditioning ingredients and are used in the libCEED's multigrid examples.
155- The inverse of separable operators can be obtained using
156  {c:func}`CeedOperatorCreateFDMElementInverse` and applied with
157  {c:func}`CeedOperatorApply`.  This is a useful preconditioning ingredient,
158  especially for Laplacians and related operators.
159- New functions: {c:func}`CeedVectorNorm`, {c:func}`CeedOperatorApplyAdd`,
160  {c:func}`CeedQFunctionView`, {c:func}`CeedOperatorView`.
161- Make public accessors for various attributes to facilitate writing composable code.
162- New backend: `/cpu/self/memcheck/serial`.
163- QFunctions using variable-length array (VLA) pointer constructs can be used with CUDA
164  backends.  (Single source is coming soon for OCCA backends.)
165- Fix some missing edge cases in CUDA backend.
166
167### Performance Improvements
168
169- MAGMA backend performance optimization and non-tensor bases.
170- No-copy optimization in {c:func}`CeedOperatorApply`.
171
172### Interface changes
173
174- Replace {code}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateIdentity` and
175  {code}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateBlocked` with more flexible
176  {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateStrided` and
177  {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateBlockedStrided`.
178- Add arguments to {c:func}`CeedQFunctionCreateIdentity`.
179- Replace ambiguous uses of {cpp:enum}`CeedTransposeMode` for L-vector identification
180  with {cpp:enum}`CeedInterlaceMode`.  This is now an attribute of the
181  {cpp:type}`CeedElemRestriction` (see {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionCreate`) and no
182  longer passed as `lmode` arguments to {c:func}`CeedOperatorSetField` and
183  {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionApply`.
184
185### Examples
186
187libCEED-0.6 contains greatly expanded examples with {ref}`new documentation <Examples>`.
188Notable additions include:
189
190- Standalone {ref}`ex2-surface` ({file}`examples/ceed/ex2-surface`): compute the area of
191  a domain in 1, 2, and 3 dimensions by applying a Laplacian.
192
193- PETSc {ref}`example-petsc-area` ({file}`examples/petsc/area.c`): computes surface area
194  of domains (like the cube and sphere) by direct integration on a surface mesh;
195  demonstrates geometric dimension different from topological dimension.
196
197- PETSc {ref}`example-petsc-bps`:
198
199  - {file}`examples/petsc/bpsraw.c` (formerly `bps.c`): transparent CUDA support.
200  - {file}`examples/petsc/bps.c` (formerly `bpsdmplex.c`): performance improvements
201    and transparent CUDA support.
202  - {ref}`example-petsc-bps-sphere` ({file}`examples/petsc/bpssphere.c`):
203    generalizations of all CEED BPs to the surface of the sphere; demonstrates geometric
204    dimension different from topological dimension.
205
206- {ref}`example-petsc-multigrid` ({file}`examples/petsc/multigrid.c`): new p-multigrid
207  solver with algebraic multigrid coarse solve.
208
209- {ref}`example-petsc-navier-stokes` ({file}`examples/fluids/navierstokes.c`; formerly
210  `examples/navier-stokes`): unstructured grid support (using PETSc's `DMPlex`),
211  implicit time integration, SU/SUPG stabilization, free-slip boundary conditions, and
212  quasi-2D computational domain support.
213
214- {ref}`example-petsc-elasticity` ({file}`examples/solids/elasticity.c`): new solver for
215  linear elasticity, small-strain hyperelasticity, and globalized finite-strain
216  hyperelasticity using p-multigrid with algebraic multigrid coarse solve.
217
218(v0-5)=
219
220## v0.5 (Sep 18, 2019)
221
222For this release, several improvements were made. Two new CUDA backends were added to
223the family of backends, of which, the new `cuda-gen` backend achieves state-of-the-art
224performance using single-source {ref}`CeedQFunction`. From this release, users
225can define Q-Functions in a single source code independently of the targeted backend
226with the aid of a new macro `CEED QFUNCTION` to support JIT (Just-In-Time) and CPU
227compilation of the user provided {ref}`CeedQFunction` code. To allow a unified
228declaration, the {ref}`CeedQFunction` API has undergone a slight change:
229the `QFunctionField` parameter `ncomp` has been changed to `size`. This change
230requires setting the previous value of `ncomp` to `ncomp*dim` when adding a
231`QFunctionField` with eval mode `CEED EVAL GRAD`.
232
233Additionally, new CPU backends
234were included in this release, such as the `/cpu/self/opt/*` backends (which are
235written in pure C and use partial **E-vectors** to improve performance) and the
236`/cpu/self/ref/memcheck` backend (which relies upon the
237[Valgrind](http://valgrind.org/) Memcheck tool to help verify that user
238{ref}`CeedQFunction` have no undefined values).
239This release also included various performance improvements, bug fixes, new examples,
240and improved tests. Among these improvements, vectorized instructions for
241{ref}`CeedQFunction` code compiled for CPU were enhanced by using `CeedPragmaSIMD`
242instead of `CeedPragmaOMP`, implementation of a {ref}`CeedQFunction` gallery and
243identity Q-Functions were introduced, and the PETSc benchmark problems were expanded
244to include unstructured meshes handling were. For this expansion, the prior version of
245the PETSc BPs, which only included data associated with structured geometries, were
246renamed `bpsraw`, and the new version of the BPs, which can handle data associated
247with any unstructured geometry, were called `bps`. Additionally, other benchmark
248problems, namely BP2 and BP4 (the vector-valued versions of BP1 and BP3, respectively),
249and BP5 and BP6 (the collocated versions---for which the quadrature points are the same
250as the Gauss Lobatto nodes---of BP3 and BP4 respectively) were added to the PETSc
251examples. Furthermoew, another standalone libCEED example, called `ex2`, which
252computes the surface area of a given mesh was added to this release.
253
254Backends available in this release:
255
256| CEED resource (`-ceed`)  | Backend                                             |
257|--------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
258| `/cpu/self/ref/serial`   | Serial reference implementation                     |
259| `/cpu/self/ref/blocked`  | Blocked reference implementation                    |
260| `/cpu/self/ref/memcheck` | Memcheck backend, undefined value checks            |
261| `/cpu/self/opt/serial`   | Serial optimized C implementation                   |
262| `/cpu/self/opt/blocked`  | Blocked optimized C implementation                  |
263| `/cpu/self/avx/serial`   | Serial AVX implementation                           |
264| `/cpu/self/avx/blocked`  | Blocked AVX implementation                          |
265| `/cpu/self/xsmm/serial`  | Serial LIBXSMM implementation                       |
266| `/cpu/self/xsmm/blocked` | Blocked LIBXSMM implementation                      |
267| `/cpu/occa`              | Serial OCCA kernels                                 |
268| `/gpu/occa`              | CUDA OCCA kernels                                   |
269| `/omp/occa`              | OpenMP OCCA kernels                                 |
270| `/ocl/occa`              | OpenCL OCCA kernels                                 |
271| `/gpu/cuda/ref`          | Reference pure CUDA kernels                         |
272| `/gpu/cuda/reg`          | Pure CUDA kernels using one thread per element      |
273| `/gpu/cuda/shared`       | Optimized pure CUDA kernels using shared memory     |
274| `/gpu/cuda/gen`          | Optimized pure CUDA kernels using code generation   |
275| `/gpu/magma`             | CUDA MAGMA kernels                                  |
276
277Examples available in this release:
278
279:::{list-table}
280:header-rows: 1
281:widths: auto
282* - User code
283  - Example
284* - `ceed`
285  - * ex1 (volume)
286    * ex2 (surface)
287* - `mfem`
288  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
289    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
290* - `petsc`
291  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
292    * BP2 (vector mass operator)
293    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
294    * BP4 (vector Laplace operator)
295    * BP5 (collocated scalar Laplace operator)
296    * BP6 (collocated vector Laplace operator)
297    * Navier-Stokes
298* - `nek5000`
299  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
300    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
301:::
302
303(v0-4)=
304
305## v0.4 (Apr 1, 2019)
306
307libCEED v0.4 was made again publicly available in the second full CEED software
308distribution, release CEED 2.0. This release contained notable features, such as
309four new CPU backends, two new GPU backends, CPU backend optimizations, initial
310support for operator composition, performance benchmarking, and a Navier-Stokes demo.
311The new CPU backends in this release came in two families. The `/cpu/self/*/serial`
312backends process one element at a time and are intended for meshes with a smaller number
313of high order elements. The `/cpu/self/*/blocked` backends process blocked batches of
314eight interlaced elements and are intended for meshes with higher numbers of elements.
315The `/cpu/self/avx/*` backends rely upon AVX instructions to provide vectorized CPU
316performance. The `/cpu/self/xsmm/*` backends rely upon the
317[LIBXSMM](http://github.com/hfp/libxsmm) package to provide vectorized CPU
318performance. The `/gpu/cuda/*` backends provide GPU performance strictly using CUDA.
319The `/gpu/cuda/ref` backend is a reference CUDA backend, providing reasonable
320performance for most problem configurations. The `/gpu/cuda/reg` backend uses a simple
321parallelization approach, where each thread treats a finite element. Using just in time
322compilation, provided by nvrtc (NVidia Runtime Compiler), and runtime parameters, this
323backend unroll loops and map memory address to registers. The `/gpu/cuda/reg` backend
324achieve good peak performance for 1D, 2D, and low order 3D problems, but performance
325deteriorates very quickly when threads run out of registers.
326
327A new explicit time-stepping Navier-Stokes solver was added to the family of libCEED
328examples in the `examples/petsc` directory (see {ref}`example-petsc-navier-stokes`).
329This example solves the time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations of compressible gas
330dynamics in a static Eulerian three-dimensional frame, using structured high-order
331finite/spectral element spatial discretizations and explicit high-order time-stepping
332(available in PETSc). Moreover, the Navier-Stokes example was developed using PETSc,
333so that the pointwise physics (defined at quadrature points) is separated from the
334parallelization and meshing concerns.
335
336Backends available in this release:
337
338| CEED resource (`-ceed`)  | Backend                                             |
339|--------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
340| `/cpu/self/ref/serial`   | Serial reference implementation                     |
341| `/cpu/self/ref/blocked`  | Blocked reference implementation                    |
342| `/cpu/self/tmpl`         | Backend template, defaults to `/cpu/self/blocked`   |
343| `/cpu/self/avx/serial`   | Serial AVX implementation                           |
344| `/cpu/self/avx/blocked`  | Blocked AVX implementation                          |
345| `/cpu/self/xsmm/serial`  | Serial LIBXSMM implementation                       |
346| `/cpu/self/xsmm/blocked` | Blocked LIBXSMM implementation                      |
347| `/cpu/occa`              | Serial OCCA kernels                                 |
348| `/gpu/occa`              | CUDA OCCA kernels                                   |
349| `/omp/occa`              | OpenMP OCCA kernels                                 |
350| `/ocl/occa`              | OpenCL OCCA kernels                                 |
351| `/gpu/cuda/ref`          | Reference pure CUDA kernels                         |
352| `/gpu/cuda/reg`          | Pure CUDA kernels using one thread per element      |
353| `/gpu/magma`             | CUDA MAGMA kernels                                  |
354
355Examples available in this release:
356
357:::{list-table}
358:header-rows: 1
359:widths: auto
360* - User code
361  - Example
362* - `ceed`
363  - * ex1 (volume)
364* - `mfem`
365  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
366    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
367* - `petsc`
368  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
369    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
370    * Navier-Stokes
371* - `nek5000`
372  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
373    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
374:::
375
376(v0-3)=
377
378## v0.3 (Sep 30, 2018)
379
380Notable features in this release include active/passive field interface, support for
381non-tensor bases, backend optimization, and improved Fortran interface. This release
382also focused on providing improved continuous integration, and many new tests with code
383coverage reports of about 90%. This release also provided a significant change to the
384public interface: a {ref}`CeedQFunction` can take any number of named input and output
385arguments while {ref}`CeedOperator` connects them to the actual data, which may be
386supplied explicitly to `CeedOperatorApply()` (active) or separately via
387`CeedOperatorSetField()` (passive). This interface change enables reusable libraries
388of CeedQFunctions and composition of block solvers constructed using
389{ref}`CeedOperator`. A concept of blocked restriction was added to this release and
390used in an optimized CPU backend. Although this is typically not visible to the user,
391it enables effective use of arbitrary-length SIMD while maintaining cache locality.
392This CPU backend also implements an algebraic factorization of tensor product gradients
393to perform fewer operations than standard application of interpolation and
394differentiation from nodes to quadrature points. This algebraic formulation
395automatically supports non-polynomial and non-interpolatory bases, thus is more general
396than the more common derivation in terms of Lagrange polynomials on the quadrature points.
397
398Backends available in this release:
399
400| CEED resource (`-ceed`) | Backend                                             |
401|-------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
402| `/cpu/self/blocked`     | Blocked reference implementation                    |
403| `/cpu/self/ref`         | Serial reference implementation                     |
404| `/cpu/self/tmpl`        | Backend template, defaults to `/cpu/self/blocked`   |
405| `/cpu/occa`             | Serial OCCA kernels                                 |
406| `/gpu/occa`             | CUDA OCCA kernels                                   |
407| `/omp/occa`             | OpenMP OCCA kernels                                 |
408| `/ocl/occa`             | OpenCL OCCA kernels                                 |
409| `/gpu/magma`            | CUDA MAGMA kernels                                  |
410
411Examples available in this release:
412
413:::{list-table}
414:header-rows: 1
415:widths: auto
416* - User code
417  - Example
418* - `ceed`
419  - * ex1 (volume)
420* - `mfem`
421  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
422    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
423* - `petsc`
424  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
425    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
426* - `nek5000`
427  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
428    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
429:::
430
431(v0-21)=
432
433## v0.21 (Sep 30, 2018)
434
435A MAGMA backend (which relies upon the
436[MAGMA](https://bitbucket.org/icl/magma) package) was integrated in libCEED for this
437release. This initial integration set up the framework of using MAGMA and provided the
438libCEED functionality through MAGMA kernels as one of libCEED’s computational backends.
439As any other backend, the MAGMA backend provides extended basic data structures for
440{ref}`CeedVector`, {ref}`CeedElemRestriction`, and {ref}`CeedOperator`, and implements
441the fundamental CEED building blocks to work with the new data structures.
442In general, the MAGMA-specific data structures keep the libCEED pointers to CPU data
443but also add corresponding device (e.g., GPU) pointers to the data. Coherency is handled
444internally, and thus seamlessly to the user, through the functions/methods that are
445provided to support them.
446
447Backends available in this release:
448
449| CEED resource (`-ceed`) | Backend                         |
450|-------------------------|---------------------------------|
451| `/cpu/self`             | Serial reference implementation |
452| `/cpu/occa`             | Serial OCCA kernels             |
453| `/gpu/occa`             | CUDA OCCA kernels               |
454| `/omp/occa`             | OpenMP OCCA kernels             |
455| `/ocl/occa`             | OpenCL OCCA kernels             |
456| `/gpu/magma`            | CUDA MAGMA kernels              |
457
458Examples available in this release:
459
460:::{list-table}
461:header-rows: 1
462:widths: auto
463* - User code
464  - Example
465* - `ceed`
466  - * ex1 (volume)
467* - `mfem`
468  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
469    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
470* - `petsc`
471  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
472* - `nek5000`
473  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
474:::
475
476(v0-2)=
477
478## v0.2 (Mar 30, 2018)
479
480libCEED was made publicly available the first full CEED software distribution, release
481CEED 1.0. The distribution was made available using the Spack package manager to provide
482a common, easy-to-use build environment, where the user can build the CEED distribution
483with all dependencies. This release included a new Fortran interface for the library.
484This release also contained major improvements in the OCCA backend (including a new
485`/ocl/occa` backend) and new examples. The standalone libCEED example was modified to
486compute the volume volume of a given mesh (in 1D, 2D, or 3D) and placed in an
487`examples/ceed` subfolder. A new `mfem` example to perform BP3 (with the application
488of the Laplace operator) was also added to this release.
489
490Backends available in this release:
491
492| CEED resource (`-ceed`) | Backend                         |
493|-------------------------|---------------------------------|
494| `/cpu/self`             | Serial reference implementation |
495| `/cpu/occa`             | Serial OCCA kernels             |
496| `/gpu/occa`             | CUDA OCCA kernels               |
497| `/omp/occa`             | OpenMP OCCA kernels             |
498| `/ocl/occa`             | OpenCL OCCA kernels             |
499
500Examples available in this release:
501
502:::{list-table}
503:header-rows: 1
504:widths: auto
505* - User code
506  - Example
507* - `ceed`
508  - * ex1 (volume)
509* - `mfem`
510  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
511    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
512* - `petsc`
513  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
514* - `nek5000`
515  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
516:::
517
518(v0-1)=
519
520## v0.1 (Jan 3, 2018)
521
522Initial low-level API of the CEED project. The low-level API provides a set of Finite
523Elements kernels and components for writing new low-level kernels. Examples include:
524vector and sparse linear algebra, element matrix assembly over a batch of elements,
525partial assembly and action for efficient high-order operators like mass, diffusion,
526advection, etc. The main goal of the low-level API is to establish the basis for the
527high-level API. Also, identifying such low-level kernels and providing a reference
528implementation for them serves as the basis for specialized backend implementations.
529This release contained several backends: `/cpu/self`, and backends which rely upon the
530[OCCA](http://github.com/libocca/occa) package, such as `/cpu/occa`,
531`/gpu/occa`, and `/omp/occa`.
532It also included several examples, in the `examples` folder:
533A standalone code that shows the usage of libCEED (with no external
534dependencies) to apply the Laplace operator, `ex1`; an `mfem` example to perform BP1
535(with the application of the mass operator); and a `petsc` example to perform BP1
536(with the application of the mass operator).
537
538Backends available in this release:
539
540| CEED resource (`-ceed`) | Backend                         |
541|-------------------------|---------------------------------|
542| `/cpu/self`             | Serial reference implementation |
543| `/cpu/occa`             | Serial OCCA kernels             |
544| `/gpu/occa`             | CUDA OCCA kernels               |
545| `/omp/occa`             | OpenMP OCCA kernels             |
546
547Examples available in this release:
548
549| User code             | Example                           |
550|-----------------------|-----------------------------------|
551| `ceed`                | ex1 (scalar Laplace operator)     |
552| `mfem`                | BP1 (scalar mass operator)        |
553| `petsc`               | BP1 (scalar mass operator)        |
554```
555