xref: /libCEED/doc/sphinx/source/releasenotes.md (revision 6f97ff0a4d72c7c52f536a363fa2fb4866807b9a)
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
18### New features
19
20- `CeedScalar` can now be set as `float` or `double` at compile time.
21
22### Maintainability
23
24- Refactored preconditioner support internally to facilitate future development and improve GPU completeness/test coverage.
25
26(v0-9)=
27
28## v0.9 (Jul 6, 2021)
29
30### Interface changes
31
32- Minor modification in error handling macro to silence pedantic warnings when compiling with Clang, but no functional impact.
33
34### New features
35
36- Add {c:func}`CeedVectorAXPY` and {c:func}`CeedVectorPointwiseMult` as a convenience for stand-alone testing and internal use.
37- Add `CEED_QFUNCTION_HELPER` macro to properly annotate QFunction helper functions for code generation backends.
38- Add `CeedPragmaOptimizeOff` macro for code that is sensitive to floating point errors from fast math optimizations.
39- Rust support: split `libceed-sys` crate out of `libceed` and [publish both on crates.io](https://crates.io/crates/libceed).
40
41### Performance improvements
42
43### Examples
44
45- Solid mechanics mini-app updated to explore the performance impacts of various formulations in the initial and current configurations.
46- Fluid mechanics example adds GPU support and improves modularity.
47
48### Deprecated backends
49
50- 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.
51
52(v0-8)=
53
54## v0.8 (Mar 31, 2021)
55
56### Interface changes
57
58- Error handling improved to include enumerated error codes for C interface return values.
59- 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.
60
61### New features
62
63- Julia and Rust interfaces added, providing a nearly 1-1 correspondence with the C interface, plus some convenience features.
64- Static libraries can be built with `make STATIC=1` and the pkg-config file is installed accordingly.
65- Add {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssembleSymbolic` and {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssemble` to support full assembly of libCEED operators.
66
67### Performance improvements
68
69- New HIP MAGMA backends for hipMAGMA library users: `/gpu/hip/magma` and `/gpu/hip/magma/det`.
70- New HIP backends for improved tensor basis performance: `/gpu/hip/shared` and `/gpu/hip/gen`.
71
72### Examples
73
74- {ref}`example-petsc-elasticity` example updated with traction boundary conditions and improved Dirichlet boundary conditions.
75- {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.
76- {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.
77- {ref}`example-petsc-navier-stokes` example updated with support for performing convergence study and plotting order of convergence by polynomial degree.
78
79(v0-7)=
80
81## v0.7 (Sep 29, 2020)
82
83### Interface changes
84
85- Replace limited {code}`CeedInterlaceMode` with more flexible component stride {code}`compstride` in {code}`CeedElemRestriction` constructors.
86  As a result, the {code}`indices` parameter has been replaced with {code}`offsets` and the {code}`nnodes` parameter has been replaced with {code}`lsize`.
87  These changes improve support for mixed finite element methods.
88- Replace various uses of {code}`Ceed*Get*Status` with {code}`Ceed*Is*` in the backend API to match common nomenclature.
89- Replace {code}`CeedOperatorAssembleLinearDiagonal` with {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssembleDiagonal` for clarity.
90- 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.
91- 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.
92- 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.
93- 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.
94  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`.
95- Added {code}`CeedQFunctionContext` object to manage user QFunction context data and reduce copies between device and host memory.
96- 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.
97
98### New features
99
100- New HIP backend: `/gpu/hip/ref`.
101- CeedQFunction support for user `CUfunction`s in some backends
102
103### Performance improvements
104
105- OCCA backend rebuilt to facilitate future performance enhancements.
106- Petsc BPs suite improved to reduce noise due to multiple calls to {code}`mpiexec`.
107
108### Examples
109
110- {ref}`example-petsc-elasticity` example updated with strain energy computation and more flexible boundary conditions.
111
112### Deprecated backends
113
114- The `/gpu/cuda/reg` backend has been removed, with its core features moved into `/gpu/cuda/ref` and `/gpu/cuda/shared`.
115
116(v0-6)=
117
118## v0.6 (Mar 29, 2020)
119
120libCEED v0.6 contains numerous new features and examples, as well as expanded
121documentation in [this new website](https://libceed.readthedocs.io).
122
123### New features
124
125- New Python interface using [CFFI](https://cffi.readthedocs.io/) provides a nearly
126  1-1 correspondence with the C interface, plus some convenience features.  For instance,
127  data stored in the {cpp:type}`CeedVector` structure are available without copy as
128  {py:class}`numpy.ndarray`.  Short tutorials are provided in
129  [Binder](https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/CEED/libCEED/main?urlpath=lab/tree/examples/tutorials/).
130- Linear QFunctions can be assembled as block-diagonal matrices (per quadrature point,
131  {c:func}`CeedOperatorAssembleLinearQFunction`) or to evaluate the diagonal
132  ({c:func}`CeedOperatorAssembleLinearDiagonal`).  These operations are useful for
133  preconditioning ingredients and are used in the libCEED's multigrid examples.
134- The inverse of separable operators can be obtained using
135  {c:func}`CeedOperatorCreateFDMElementInverse` and applied with
136  {c:func}`CeedOperatorApply`.  This is a useful preconditioning ingredient,
137  especially for Laplacians and related operators.
138- New functions: {c:func}`CeedVectorNorm`, {c:func}`CeedOperatorApplyAdd`,
139  {c:func}`CeedQFunctionView`, {c:func}`CeedOperatorView`.
140- Make public accessors for various attributes to facilitate writing composable code.
141- New backend: `/cpu/self/memcheck/serial`.
142- QFunctions using variable-length array (VLA) pointer constructs can be used with CUDA
143  backends.  (Single source is coming soon for OCCA backends.)
144- Fix some missing edge cases in CUDA backend.
145
146### Performance Improvements
147
148- MAGMA backend performance optimization and non-tensor bases.
149- No-copy optimization in {c:func}`CeedOperatorApply`.
150
151### Interface changes
152
153- Replace {code}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateIdentity` and
154  {code}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateBlocked` with more flexible
155  {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateStrided` and
156  {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateBlockedStrided`.
157- Add arguments to {c:func}`CeedQFunctionCreateIdentity`.
158- Replace ambiguous uses of {cpp:enum}`CeedTransposeMode` for L-vector identification
159  with {cpp:enum}`CeedInterlaceMode`.  This is now an attribute of the
160  {cpp:type}`CeedElemRestriction` (see {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionCreate`) and no
161  longer passed as `lmode` arguments to {c:func}`CeedOperatorSetField` and
162  {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionApply`.
163
164### Examples
165
166libCEED-0.6 contains greatly expanded examples with {ref}`new documentation <Examples>`.
167Notable additions include:
168
169- Standalone {ref}`ex2-surface` ({file}`examples/ceed/ex2-surface`): compute the area of
170  a domain in 1, 2, and 3 dimensions by applying a Laplacian.
171
172- PETSc {ref}`example-petsc-area` ({file}`examples/petsc/area.c`): computes surface area
173  of domains (like the cube and sphere) by direct integration on a surface mesh;
174  demonstrates geometric dimension different from topological dimension.
175
176- PETSc {ref}`example-petsc-bps`:
177
178  - {file}`examples/petsc/bpsraw.c` (formerly `bps.c`): transparent CUDA support.
179  - {file}`examples/petsc/bps.c` (formerly `bpsdmplex.c`): performance improvements
180    and transparent CUDA support.
181  - {ref}`example-petsc-bps-sphere` ({file}`examples/petsc/bpssphere.c`):
182    generalizations of all CEED BPs to the surface of the sphere; demonstrates geometric
183    dimension different from topological dimension.
184
185- {ref}`example-petsc-multigrid` ({file}`examples/petsc/multigrid.c`): new p-multigrid
186  solver with algebraic multigrid coarse solve.
187
188- {ref}`example-petsc-navier-stokes` ({file}`examples/fluids/navierstokes.c`; formerly
189  `examples/navier-stokes`): unstructured grid support (using PETSc's `DMPlex`),
190  implicit time integration, SU/SUPG stabilization, free-slip boundary conditions, and
191  quasi-2D computational domain support.
192
193- {ref}`example-petsc-elasticity` ({file}`examples/solids/elasticity.c`): new solver for
194  linear elasticity, small-strain hyperelasticity, and globalized finite-strain
195  hyperelasticity using p-multigrid with algebraic multigrid coarse solve.
196
197(v0-5)=
198
199## v0.5 (Sep 18, 2019)
200
201For this release, several improvements were made. Two new CUDA backends were added to
202the family of backends, of which, the new `cuda-gen` backend achieves state-of-the-art
203performance using single-source {ref}`CeedQFunction`. From this release, users
204can define Q-Functions in a single source code independently of the targeted backend
205with the aid of a new macro `CEED QFUNCTION` to support JIT (Just-In-Time) and CPU
206compilation of the user provided {ref}`CeedQFunction` code. To allow a unified
207declaration, the {ref}`CeedQFunction` API has undergone a slight change:
208the `QFunctionField` parameter `ncomp` has been changed to `size`. This change
209requires setting the previous value of `ncomp` to `ncomp*dim` when adding a
210`QFunctionField` with eval mode `CEED EVAL GRAD`.
211
212Additionally, new CPU backends
213were included in this release, such as the `/cpu/self/opt/*` backends (which are
214written in pure C and use partial **E-vectors** to improve performance) and the
215`/cpu/self/ref/memcheck` backend (which relies upon the
216[Valgrind](http://valgrind.org/) Memcheck tool to help verify that user
217{ref}`CeedQFunction` have no undefined values).
218This release also included various performance improvements, bug fixes, new examples,
219and improved tests. Among these improvements, vectorized instructions for
220{ref}`CeedQFunction` code compiled for CPU were enhanced by using `CeedPragmaSIMD`
221instead of `CeedPragmaOMP`, implementation of a {ref}`CeedQFunction` gallery and
222identity Q-Functions were introduced, and the PETSc benchmark problems were expanded
223to include unstructured meshes handling were. For this expansion, the prior version of
224the PETSc BPs, which only included data associated with structured geometries, were
225renamed `bpsraw`, and the new version of the BPs, which can handle data associated
226with any unstructured geometry, were called `bps`. Additionally, other benchmark
227problems, namely BP2 and BP4 (the vector-valued versions of BP1 and BP3, respectively),
228and BP5 and BP6 (the collocated versions---for which the quadrature points are the same
229as the Gauss Lobatto nodes---of BP3 and BP4 respectively) were added to the PETSc
230examples. Furthermoew, another standalone libCEED example, called `ex2`, which
231computes the surface area of a given mesh was added to this release.
232
233Backends available in this release:
234
235| CEED resource (`-ceed`)  | Backend                                             |
236|--------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
237| `/cpu/self/ref/serial`   | Serial reference implementation                     |
238| `/cpu/self/ref/blocked`  | Blocked reference implementation                    |
239| `/cpu/self/ref/memcheck` | Memcheck backend, undefined value checks            |
240| `/cpu/self/opt/serial`   | Serial optimized C implementation                   |
241| `/cpu/self/opt/blocked`  | Blocked optimized C implementation                  |
242| `/cpu/self/avx/serial`   | Serial AVX implementation                           |
243| `/cpu/self/avx/blocked`  | Blocked AVX implementation                          |
244| `/cpu/self/xsmm/serial`  | Serial LIBXSMM implementation                       |
245| `/cpu/self/xsmm/blocked` | Blocked LIBXSMM implementation                      |
246| `/cpu/occa`              | Serial OCCA kernels                                 |
247| `/gpu/occa`              | CUDA OCCA kernels                                   |
248| `/omp/occa`              | OpenMP OCCA kernels                                 |
249| `/ocl/occa`              | OpenCL OCCA kernels                                 |
250| `/gpu/cuda/ref`          | Reference pure CUDA kernels                         |
251| `/gpu/cuda/reg`          | Pure CUDA kernels using one thread per element      |
252| `/gpu/cuda/shared`       | Optimized pure CUDA kernels using shared memory     |
253| `/gpu/cuda/gen`          | Optimized pure CUDA kernels using code generation   |
254| `/gpu/magma`             | CUDA MAGMA kernels                                  |
255
256Examples available in this release:
257
258:::{list-table}
259:header-rows: 1
260:widths: auto
261* - User code
262  - Example
263* - `ceed`
264  - * ex1 (volume)
265    * ex2 (surface)
266* - `mfem`
267  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
268    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
269* - `petsc`
270  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
271    * BP2 (vector mass operator)
272    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
273    * BP4 (vector Laplace operator)
274    * BP5 (collocated scalar Laplace operator)
275    * BP6 (collocated vector Laplace operator)
276    * Navier-Stokes
277* - `nek5000`
278  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
279    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
280:::
281
282(v0-4)=
283
284## v0.4 (Apr 1, 2019)
285
286libCEED v0.4 was made again publicly available in the second full CEED software
287distribution, release CEED 2.0. This release contained notable features, such as
288four new CPU backends, two new GPU backends, CPU backend optimizations, initial
289support for operator composition, performance benchmarking, and a Navier-Stokes demo.
290The new CPU backends in this release came in two families. The `/cpu/self/*/serial`
291backends process one element at a time and are intended for meshes with a smaller number
292of high order elements. The `/cpu/self/*/blocked` backends process blocked batches of
293eight interlaced elements and are intended for meshes with higher numbers of elements.
294The `/cpu/self/avx/*` backends rely upon AVX instructions to provide vectorized CPU
295performance. The `/cpu/self/xsmm/*` backends rely upon the
296[LIBXSMM](http://github.com/hfp/libxsmm) package to provide vectorized CPU
297performance. The `/gpu/cuda/*` backends provide GPU performance strictly using CUDA.
298The `/gpu/cuda/ref` backend is a reference CUDA backend, providing reasonable
299performance for most problem configurations. The `/gpu/cuda/reg` backend uses a simple
300parallelization approach, where each thread treats a finite element. Using just in time
301compilation, provided by nvrtc (NVidia Runtime Compiler), and runtime parameters, this
302backend unroll loops and map memory address to registers. The `/gpu/cuda/reg` backend
303achieve good peak performance for 1D, 2D, and low order 3D problems, but performance
304deteriorates very quickly when threads run out of registers.
305
306A new explicit time-stepping Navier-Stokes solver was added to the family of libCEED
307examples in the `examples/petsc` directory (see {ref}`example-petsc-navier-stokes`).
308This example solves the time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations of compressible gas
309dynamics in a static Eulerian three-dimensional frame, using structured high-order
310finite/spectral element spatial discretizations and explicit high-order time-stepping
311(available in PETSc). Moreover, the Navier-Stokes example was developed using PETSc,
312so that the pointwise physics (defined at quadrature points) is separated from the
313parallelization and meshing concerns.
314
315Backends available in this release:
316
317| CEED resource (`-ceed`)  | Backend                                             |
318|--------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
319| `/cpu/self/ref/serial`   | Serial reference implementation                     |
320| `/cpu/self/ref/blocked`  | Blocked reference implementation                    |
321| `/cpu/self/tmpl`         | Backend template, defaults to `/cpu/self/blocked`   |
322| `/cpu/self/avx/serial`   | Serial AVX implementation                           |
323| `/cpu/self/avx/blocked`  | Blocked AVX implementation                          |
324| `/cpu/self/xsmm/serial`  | Serial LIBXSMM implementation                       |
325| `/cpu/self/xsmm/blocked` | Blocked LIBXSMM implementation                      |
326| `/cpu/occa`              | Serial OCCA kernels                                 |
327| `/gpu/occa`              | CUDA OCCA kernels                                   |
328| `/omp/occa`              | OpenMP OCCA kernels                                 |
329| `/ocl/occa`              | OpenCL OCCA kernels                                 |
330| `/gpu/cuda/ref`          | Reference pure CUDA kernels                         |
331| `/gpu/cuda/reg`          | Pure CUDA kernels using one thread per element      |
332| `/gpu/magma`             | CUDA MAGMA kernels                                  |
333
334Examples available in this release:
335
336:::{list-table}
337:header-rows: 1
338:widths: auto
339* - User code
340  - Example
341* - `ceed`
342  - * ex1 (volume)
343* - `mfem`
344  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
345    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
346* - `petsc`
347  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
348    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
349    * Navier-Stokes
350* - `nek5000`
351  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
352    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
353:::
354
355(v0-3)=
356
357## v0.3 (Sep 30, 2018)
358
359Notable features in this release include active/passive field interface, support for
360non-tensor bases, backend optimization, and improved Fortran interface. This release
361also focused on providing improved continuous integration, and many new tests with code
362coverage reports of about 90%. This release also provided a significant change to the
363public interface: a {ref}`CeedQFunction` can take any number of named input and output
364arguments while {ref}`CeedOperator` connects them to the actual data, which may be
365supplied explicitly to `CeedOperatorApply()` (active) or separately via
366`CeedOperatorSetField()` (passive). This interface change enables reusable libraries
367of CeedQFunctions and composition of block solvers constructed using
368{ref}`CeedOperator`. A concept of blocked restriction was added to this release and
369used in an optimized CPU backend. Although this is typically not visible to the user,
370it enables effective use of arbitrary-length SIMD while maintaining cache locality.
371This CPU backend also implements an algebraic factorization of tensor product gradients
372to perform fewer operations than standard application of interpolation and
373differentiation from nodes to quadrature points. This algebraic formulation
374automatically supports non-polynomial and non-interpolatory bases, thus is more general
375than the more common derivation in terms of Lagrange polynomials on the quadrature points.
376
377Backends available in this release:
378
379| CEED resource (`-ceed`) | Backend                                             |
380|-------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
381| `/cpu/self/blocked`     | Blocked reference implementation                    |
382| `/cpu/self/ref`         | Serial reference implementation                     |
383| `/cpu/self/tmpl`        | Backend template, defaults to `/cpu/self/blocked`   |
384| `/cpu/occa`             | Serial OCCA kernels                                 |
385| `/gpu/occa`             | CUDA OCCA kernels                                   |
386| `/omp/occa`             | OpenMP OCCA kernels                                 |
387| `/ocl/occa`             | OpenCL OCCA kernels                                 |
388| `/gpu/magma`            | CUDA MAGMA kernels                                  |
389
390Examples available in this release:
391
392:::{list-table}
393:header-rows: 1
394:widths: auto
395* - User code
396  - Example
397* - `ceed`
398  - * ex1 (volume)
399* - `mfem`
400  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
401    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
402* - `petsc`
403  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
404    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
405* - `nek5000`
406  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
407    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
408:::
409
410(v0-21)=
411
412## v0.21 (Sep 30, 2018)
413
414A MAGMA backend (which relies upon the
415[MAGMA](https://bitbucket.org/icl/magma) package) was integrated in libCEED for this
416release. This initial integration set up the framework of using MAGMA and provided the
417libCEED functionality through MAGMA kernels as one of libCEED’s computational backends.
418As any other backend, the MAGMA backend provides extended basic data structures for
419{ref}`CeedVector`, {ref}`CeedElemRestriction`, and {ref}`CeedOperator`, and implements
420the fundamental CEED building blocks to work with the new data structures.
421In general, the MAGMA-specific data structures keep the libCEED pointers to CPU data
422but also add corresponding device (e.g., GPU) pointers to the data. Coherency is handled
423internally, and thus seamlessly to the user, through the functions/methods that are
424provided to support them.
425
426Backends available in this release:
427
428| CEED resource (`-ceed`) | Backend                         |
429|-------------------------|---------------------------------|
430| `/cpu/self`             | Serial reference implementation |
431| `/cpu/occa`             | Serial OCCA kernels             |
432| `/gpu/occa`             | CUDA OCCA kernels               |
433| `/omp/occa`             | OpenMP OCCA kernels             |
434| `/ocl/occa`             | OpenCL OCCA kernels             |
435| `/gpu/magma`            | CUDA MAGMA kernels              |
436
437Examples available in this release:
438
439:::{list-table}
440:header-rows: 1
441:widths: auto
442* - User code
443  - Example
444* - `ceed`
445  - * ex1 (volume)
446* - `mfem`
447  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
448    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
449* - `petsc`
450  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
451* - `nek5000`
452  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
453:::
454
455(v0-2)=
456
457## v0.2 (Mar 30, 2018)
458
459libCEED was made publicly available the first full CEED software distribution, release
460CEED 1.0. The distribution was made available using the Spack package manager to provide
461a common, easy-to-use build environment, where the user can build the CEED distribution
462with all dependencies. This release included a new Fortran interface for the library.
463This release also contained major improvements in the OCCA backend (including a new
464`/ocl/occa` backend) and new examples. The standalone libCEED example was modified to
465compute the volume volume of a given mesh (in 1D, 2D, or 3D) and placed in an
466`examples/ceed` subfolder. A new `mfem` example to perform BP3 (with the application
467of the Laplace operator) was also added to this release.
468
469Backends available in this release:
470
471| CEED resource (`-ceed`) | Backend                         |
472|-------------------------|---------------------------------|
473| `/cpu/self`             | Serial reference implementation |
474| `/cpu/occa`             | Serial OCCA kernels             |
475| `/gpu/occa`             | CUDA OCCA kernels               |
476| `/omp/occa`             | OpenMP OCCA kernels             |
477| `/ocl/occa`             | OpenCL OCCA kernels             |
478
479Examples available in this release:
480
481:::{list-table}
482:header-rows: 1
483:widths: auto
484* - User code
485  - Example
486* - `ceed`
487  - * ex1 (volume)
488* - `mfem`
489  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
490    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
491* - `petsc`
492  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
493* - `nek5000`
494  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
495:::
496
497(v0-1)=
498
499## v0.1 (Jan 3, 2018)
500
501Initial low-level API of the CEED project. The low-level API provides a set of Finite
502Elements kernels and components for writing new low-level kernels. Examples include:
503vector and sparse linear algebra, element matrix assembly over a batch of elements,
504partial assembly and action for efficient high-order operators like mass, diffusion,
505advection, etc. The main goal of the low-level API is to establish the basis for the
506high-level API. Also, identifying such low-level kernels and providing a reference
507implementation for them serves as the basis for specialized backend implementations.
508This release contained several backends: `/cpu/self`, and backends which rely upon the
509[OCCA](http://github.com/libocca/occa) package, such as `/cpu/occa`,
510`/gpu/occa`, and `/omp/occa`.
511It also included several examples, in the `examples` folder:
512A standalone code that shows the usage of libCEED (with no external
513dependencies) to apply the Laplace operator, `ex1`; an `mfem` example to perform BP1
514(with the application of the mass operator); and a `petsc` example to perform BP1
515(with the application of the mass operator).
516
517Backends available in this release:
518
519| CEED resource (`-ceed`) | Backend                         |
520|-------------------------|---------------------------------|
521| `/cpu/self`             | Serial reference implementation |
522| `/cpu/occa`             | Serial OCCA kernels             |
523| `/gpu/occa`             | CUDA OCCA kernels               |
524| `/omp/occa`             | OpenMP OCCA kernels             |
525
526Examples available in this release:
527
528| User code             | Example                           |
529|-----------------------|-----------------------------------|
530| `ceed`                | ex1 (scalar Laplace operator)     |
531| `mfem`                | BP1 (scalar mass operator)        |
532| `petsc`               | BP1 (scalar mass operator)        |
533```
534