xref: /libCEED/doc/sphinx/source/releasenotes.md (revision f8c2a97dab8c6b101885ddac201767a4ff082b2a)
1# Changes/Release Notes
2
3On this page we provide a summary of the main API changes, new features and examples for each release of libCEED.
4
5(main)=
6
7## Current `main` branch
8
9### Interface changes
10
11- Added {c:func}`CeedOperatorSetName` for more readable {c:func}`CeedOperatorView` output.
12
13(v0-10-1)=
14
15## v0.10.1 (Apr 11, 2022)
16
17### Interface changes
18
19- Added {c:func}`CeedQFunctionSetUserFlopsEstimate` and {c:func}`CeedOperatorGetFlopsEstimate` to facilitate estimating FLOPs in operator application.
20
21### Bugfix
22
23- Install JiT source files in install directory to fix GPU functionality for installed libCEED.
24
25(v0-10)=
26
27## v0.10 (Mar 21, 2022)
28
29### Interface changes
30
31- Update {c:func}`CeedQFunctionGetFields` and {c:func}`CeedOperatorGetFields` to include number of fields.
32- 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`.
33- Clarify and document conditions where `CeedQFunction` and `CeedOperator` become immutable and no further fields or suboperators can be added.
34- Add {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssembleQFunctionBuildOrUpdate` to reduce object creation overhead in assembly of CeedOperator preconditioning ingredients.
35- Promote {c:func}`CeedOperatorCheckReady`to the public API to facilitate interactive interfaces.
36- Warning added when compiling OCCA backend to alert users that this backend is experimental.
37- `ceed-backend.h`, `ceed-hash.h`, and `ceed-khash.h` removed. Users should use `ceed/backend.h`, `ceed/hash.h`, and `ceed/khash.h`.
38- Added {c:func}`CeedQFunctionGetKernelName`; refactored {c:func}`CeedQFunctionGetSourcePath` to exclude function kernel name.
39- 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`.
40- Added {c:func}`CeedVectorGetArrayWrite` that allows access to uninitalized arrays; require initalized data for {c:func}`CeedVectorGetArray`.
41- 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.
42- Added {c:func}`CeedQFunctionContextGetFieldDescriptions` to retreive user defined descriptions of fields that are registered with `CeedQFunctionContextRegister*`.
43- Renamed `CeedElemTopology` entries for clearer namespacing between libCEED enums.
44- 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.
45- Added {c:func}`CeedOperatorSetQFunctionUpdated` to facilitate QFunction data re-use between operators sharing the same quadrature space, such as in a multigrid hierarchy.
46- Added {c:func}`CeedOperatorGetActiveVectorLengths` to get shape of CeedOperator.
47
48### New features
49
50- `CeedScalar` can now be set as `float` or `double` at compile time.
51- Added JiT utilities in `ceed/jit-tools.h` to reduce duplicated code in GPU backends.
52- 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.
53- Remove need to guard library headers in QFunction source for code generation backends.
54- `CeedDebugEnv()` macro created to provide debugging outputs when Ceed context is not present.
55- Added {c:func}`CeedStringAllocCopy` to reduce repeated code for copying strings internally.
56- Added {c:func}`CeedPathConcatenate` to facilitate loading kernel source files with a path relative to the current file.
57- Added support for non-tensor H(div) elements, to include CPU backend implementations and {c:func}`CeedBasisCreateHdiv` convenience constructor.
58- 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.
59- Added support for element matrix assembly in GPU backends.
60
61### Maintainability
62
63- Refactored preconditioner support internally to facilitate future development and improve GPU completeness/test coverage.
64- `Include-what-you-use` makefile target added as `make iwyu`.
65- Create backend constant `CEED_FIELD_MAX` to reduce magic numbers in codebase.
66- Put GPU JiTed kernel source code into separate files.
67- 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.
68
69(v0-9)=
70
71## v0.9 (Jul 6, 2021)
72
73### Interface changes
74
75- Minor modification in error handling macro to silence pedantic warnings when compiling with Clang, but no functional impact.
76
77### New features
78
79- Add {c:func}`CeedVectorAXPY` and {c:func}`CeedVectorPointwiseMult` as a convenience for stand-alone testing and internal use.
80- Add `CEED_QFUNCTION_HELPER` macro to properly annotate QFunction helper functions for code generation backends.
81- Add `CeedPragmaOptimizeOff` macro for code that is sensitive to floating point errors from fast math optimizations.
82- Rust support: split `libceed-sys` crate out of `libceed` and [publish both on crates.io](https://crates.io/crates/libceed).
83
84### Performance improvements
85
86### Examples
87
88- Solid mechanics mini-app updated to explore the performance impacts of various formulations in the initial and current configurations.
89- Fluid mechanics example adds GPU support and improves modularity.
90
91### Deprecated backends
92
93- 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.
94
95(v0-8)=
96
97## v0.8 (Mar 31, 2021)
98
99### Interface changes
100
101- Error handling improved to include enumerated error codes for C interface return values.
102- 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.
103
104### New features
105
106- Julia and Rust interfaces added, providing a nearly 1-1 correspondence with the C interface, plus some convenience features.
107- Static libraries can be built with `make STATIC=1` and the pkg-config file is installed accordingly.
108- Add {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssembleSymbolic` and {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssemble` to support full assembly of libCEED operators.
109
110### Performance improvements
111
112- New HIP MAGMA backends for hipMAGMA library users: `/gpu/hip/magma` and `/gpu/hip/magma/det`.
113- New HIP backends for improved tensor basis performance: `/gpu/hip/shared` and `/gpu/hip/gen`.
114
115### Examples
116
117- {ref}`example-petsc-elasticity` example updated with traction boundary conditions and improved Dirichlet boundary conditions.
118- {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.
119- {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.
120- {ref}`example-petsc-navier-stokes` example updated with support for performing convergence study and plotting order of convergence by polynomial degree.
121
122(v0-7)=
123
124## v0.7 (Sep 29, 2020)
125
126### Interface changes
127
128- Replace limited {code}`CeedInterlaceMode` with more flexible component stride {code}`compstride` in {code}`CeedElemRestriction` constructors.
129  As a result, the {code}`indices` parameter has been replaced with {code}`offsets` and the {code}`nnodes` parameter has been replaced with {code}`lsize`.
130  These changes improve support for mixed finite element methods.
131- Replace various uses of {code}`Ceed*Get*Status` with {code}`Ceed*Is*` in the backend API to match common nomenclature.
132- Replace {code}`CeedOperatorAssembleLinearDiagonal` with {c:func}`CeedOperatorLinearAssembleDiagonal` for clarity.
133- 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.
134- 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.
135- 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.
136- 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.
137  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`.
138- Added {code}`CeedQFunctionContext` object to manage user QFunction context data and reduce copies between device and host memory.
139- 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.
140
141### New features
142
143- New HIP backend: `/gpu/hip/ref`.
144- CeedQFunction support for user `CUfunction`s in some backends
145
146### Performance improvements
147
148- OCCA backend rebuilt to facilitate future performance enhancements.
149- Petsc BPs suite improved to reduce noise due to multiple calls to {code}`mpiexec`.
150
151### Examples
152
153- {ref}`example-petsc-elasticity` example updated with strain energy computation and more flexible boundary conditions.
154
155### Deprecated backends
156
157- The `/gpu/cuda/reg` backend has been removed, with its core features moved into `/gpu/cuda/ref` and `/gpu/cuda/shared`.
158
159(v0-6)=
160
161## v0.6 (Mar 29, 2020)
162
163libCEED v0.6 contains numerous new features and examples, as well as expanded
164documentation in [this new website](https://libceed.org).
165
166### New features
167
168- New Python interface using [CFFI](https://cffi.readthedocs.io/) provides a nearly
169  1-1 correspondence with the C interface, plus some convenience features.  For instance,
170  data stored in the {cpp:type}`CeedVector` structure are available without copy as
171  {py:class}`numpy.ndarray`.  Short tutorials are provided in
172  [Binder](https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/CEED/libCEED/main?urlpath=lab/tree/examples/tutorials/).
173- Linear QFunctions can be assembled as block-diagonal matrices (per quadrature point,
174  {c:func}`CeedOperatorAssembleLinearQFunction`) or to evaluate the diagonal
175  ({c:func}`CeedOperatorAssembleLinearDiagonal`).  These operations are useful for
176  preconditioning ingredients and are used in the libCEED's multigrid examples.
177- The inverse of separable operators can be obtained using
178  {c:func}`CeedOperatorCreateFDMElementInverse` and applied with
179  {c:func}`CeedOperatorApply`.  This is a useful preconditioning ingredient,
180  especially for Laplacians and related operators.
181- New functions: {c:func}`CeedVectorNorm`, {c:func}`CeedOperatorApplyAdd`,
182  {c:func}`CeedQFunctionView`, {c:func}`CeedOperatorView`.
183- Make public accessors for various attributes to facilitate writing composable code.
184- New backend: `/cpu/self/memcheck/serial`.
185- QFunctions using variable-length array (VLA) pointer constructs can be used with CUDA
186  backends.  (Single source is coming soon for OCCA backends.)
187- Fix some missing edge cases in CUDA backend.
188
189### Performance Improvements
190
191- MAGMA backend performance optimization and non-tensor bases.
192- No-copy optimization in {c:func}`CeedOperatorApply`.
193
194### Interface changes
195
196- Replace {code}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateIdentity` and
197  {code}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateBlocked` with more flexible
198  {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateStrided` and
199  {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionCreateBlockedStrided`.
200- Add arguments to {c:func}`CeedQFunctionCreateIdentity`.
201- Replace ambiguous uses of {cpp:enum}`CeedTransposeMode` for L-vector identification
202  with {cpp:enum}`CeedInterlaceMode`.  This is now an attribute of the
203  {cpp:type}`CeedElemRestriction` (see {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionCreate`) and no
204  longer passed as `lmode` arguments to {c:func}`CeedOperatorSetField` and
205  {c:func}`CeedElemRestrictionApply`.
206
207### Examples
208
209libCEED-0.6 contains greatly expanded examples with {ref}`new documentation <Examples>`.
210Notable additions include:
211
212- Standalone {ref}`ex2-surface` ({file}`examples/ceed/ex2-surface`): compute the area of
213  a domain in 1, 2, and 3 dimensions by applying a Laplacian.
214
215- PETSc {ref}`example-petsc-area` ({file}`examples/petsc/area.c`): computes surface area
216  of domains (like the cube and sphere) by direct integration on a surface mesh;
217  demonstrates geometric dimension different from topological dimension.
218
219- PETSc {ref}`example-petsc-bps`:
220
221  - {file}`examples/petsc/bpsraw.c` (formerly `bps.c`): transparent CUDA support.
222  - {file}`examples/petsc/bps.c` (formerly `bpsdmplex.c`): performance improvements
223    and transparent CUDA support.
224  - {ref}`example-petsc-bps-sphere` ({file}`examples/petsc/bpssphere.c`):
225    generalizations of all CEED BPs to the surface of the sphere; demonstrates geometric
226    dimension different from topological dimension.
227
228- {ref}`example-petsc-multigrid` ({file}`examples/petsc/multigrid.c`): new p-multigrid
229  solver with algebraic multigrid coarse solve.
230
231- {ref}`example-petsc-navier-stokes` ({file}`examples/fluids/navierstokes.c`; formerly
232  `examples/navier-stokes`): unstructured grid support (using PETSc's `DMPlex`),
233  implicit time integration, SU/SUPG stabilization, free-slip boundary conditions, and
234  quasi-2D computational domain support.
235
236- {ref}`example-petsc-elasticity` ({file}`examples/solids/elasticity.c`): new solver for
237  linear elasticity, small-strain hyperelasticity, and globalized finite-strain
238  hyperelasticity using p-multigrid with algebraic multigrid coarse solve.
239
240(v0-5)=
241
242## v0.5 (Sep 18, 2019)
243
244For this release, several improvements were made. Two new CUDA backends were added to
245the family of backends, of which, the new `cuda-gen` backend achieves state-of-the-art
246performance using single-source {ref}`CeedQFunction`. From this release, users
247can define Q-Functions in a single source code independently of the targeted backend
248with the aid of a new macro `CEED QFUNCTION` to support JIT (Just-In-Time) and CPU
249compilation of the user provided {ref}`CeedQFunction` code. To allow a unified
250declaration, the {ref}`CeedQFunction` API has undergone a slight change:
251the `QFunctionField` parameter `ncomp` has been changed to `size`. This change
252requires setting the previous value of `ncomp` to `ncomp*dim` when adding a
253`QFunctionField` with eval mode `CEED EVAL GRAD`.
254
255Additionally, new CPU backends
256were included in this release, such as the `/cpu/self/opt/*` backends (which are
257written in pure C and use partial **E-vectors** to improve performance) and the
258`/cpu/self/ref/memcheck` backend (which relies upon the
259[Valgrind](http://valgrind.org/) Memcheck tool to help verify that user
260{ref}`CeedQFunction` have no undefined values).
261This release also included various performance improvements, bug fixes, new examples,
262and improved tests. Among these improvements, vectorized instructions for
263{ref}`CeedQFunction` code compiled for CPU were enhanced by using `CeedPragmaSIMD`
264instead of `CeedPragmaOMP`, implementation of a {ref}`CeedQFunction` gallery and
265identity Q-Functions were introduced, and the PETSc benchmark problems were expanded
266to include unstructured meshes handling were. For this expansion, the prior version of
267the PETSc BPs, which only included data associated with structured geometries, were
268renamed `bpsraw`, and the new version of the BPs, which can handle data associated
269with any unstructured geometry, were called `bps`. Additionally, other benchmark
270problems, namely BP2 and BP4 (the vector-valued versions of BP1 and BP3, respectively),
271and BP5 and BP6 (the collocated versions---for which the quadrature points are the same
272as the Gauss Lobatto nodes---of BP3 and BP4 respectively) were added to the PETSc
273examples. Furthermoew, another standalone libCEED example, called `ex2`, which
274computes the surface area of a given mesh was added to this release.
275
276Backends available in this release:
277
278| CEED resource (`-ceed`)  | Backend                                             |
279|--------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
280| `/cpu/self/ref/serial`   | Serial reference implementation                     |
281| `/cpu/self/ref/blocked`  | Blocked reference implementation                    |
282| `/cpu/self/ref/memcheck` | Memcheck backend, undefined value checks            |
283| `/cpu/self/opt/serial`   | Serial optimized C implementation                   |
284| `/cpu/self/opt/blocked`  | Blocked optimized C implementation                  |
285| `/cpu/self/avx/serial`   | Serial AVX implementation                           |
286| `/cpu/self/avx/blocked`  | Blocked AVX implementation                          |
287| `/cpu/self/xsmm/serial`  | Serial LIBXSMM implementation                       |
288| `/cpu/self/xsmm/blocked` | Blocked LIBXSMM implementation                      |
289| `/cpu/occa`              | Serial OCCA kernels                                 |
290| `/gpu/occa`              | CUDA OCCA kernels                                   |
291| `/omp/occa`              | OpenMP OCCA kernels                                 |
292| `/ocl/occa`              | OpenCL OCCA kernels                                 |
293| `/gpu/cuda/ref`          | Reference pure CUDA kernels                         |
294| `/gpu/cuda/reg`          | Pure CUDA kernels using one thread per element      |
295| `/gpu/cuda/shared`       | Optimized pure CUDA kernels using shared memory     |
296| `/gpu/cuda/gen`          | Optimized pure CUDA kernels using code generation   |
297| `/gpu/magma`             | CUDA MAGMA kernels                                  |
298
299Examples available in this release:
300
301:::{list-table}
302:header-rows: 1
303:widths: auto
304* - User code
305  - Example
306* - `ceed`
307  - * ex1 (volume)
308    * ex2 (surface)
309* - `mfem`
310  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
311    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
312* - `petsc`
313  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
314    * BP2 (vector mass operator)
315    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
316    * BP4 (vector Laplace operator)
317    * BP5 (collocated scalar Laplace operator)
318    * BP6 (collocated vector Laplace operator)
319    * Navier-Stokes
320* - `nek5000`
321  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
322    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
323:::
324
325(v0-4)=
326
327## v0.4 (Apr 1, 2019)
328
329libCEED v0.4 was made again publicly available in the second full CEED software
330distribution, release CEED 2.0. This release contained notable features, such as
331four new CPU backends, two new GPU backends, CPU backend optimizations, initial
332support for operator composition, performance benchmarking, and a Navier-Stokes demo.
333The new CPU backends in this release came in two families. The `/cpu/self/*/serial`
334backends process one element at a time and are intended for meshes with a smaller number
335of high order elements. The `/cpu/self/*/blocked` backends process blocked batches of
336eight interlaced elements and are intended for meshes with higher numbers of elements.
337The `/cpu/self/avx/*` backends rely upon AVX instructions to provide vectorized CPU
338performance. The `/cpu/self/xsmm/*` backends rely upon the
339[LIBXSMM](http://github.com/hfp/libxsmm) package to provide vectorized CPU
340performance. The `/gpu/cuda/*` backends provide GPU performance strictly using CUDA.
341The `/gpu/cuda/ref` backend is a reference CUDA backend, providing reasonable
342performance for most problem configurations. The `/gpu/cuda/reg` backend uses a simple
343parallelization approach, where each thread treats a finite element. Using just in time
344compilation, provided by nvrtc (NVidia Runtime Compiler), and runtime parameters, this
345backend unroll loops and map memory address to registers. The `/gpu/cuda/reg` backend
346achieve good peak performance for 1D, 2D, and low order 3D problems, but performance
347deteriorates very quickly when threads run out of registers.
348
349A new explicit time-stepping Navier-Stokes solver was added to the family of libCEED
350examples in the `examples/petsc` directory (see {ref}`example-petsc-navier-stokes`).
351This example solves the time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations of compressible gas
352dynamics in a static Eulerian three-dimensional frame, using structured high-order
353finite/spectral element spatial discretizations and explicit high-order time-stepping
354(available in PETSc). Moreover, the Navier-Stokes example was developed using PETSc,
355so that the pointwise physics (defined at quadrature points) is separated from the
356parallelization and meshing concerns.
357
358Backends available in this release:
359
360| CEED resource (`-ceed`)  | Backend                                             |
361|--------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
362| `/cpu/self/ref/serial`   | Serial reference implementation                     |
363| `/cpu/self/ref/blocked`  | Blocked reference implementation                    |
364| `/cpu/self/tmpl`         | Backend template, defaults to `/cpu/self/blocked`   |
365| `/cpu/self/avx/serial`   | Serial AVX implementation                           |
366| `/cpu/self/avx/blocked`  | Blocked AVX implementation                          |
367| `/cpu/self/xsmm/serial`  | Serial LIBXSMM implementation                       |
368| `/cpu/self/xsmm/blocked` | Blocked LIBXSMM implementation                      |
369| `/cpu/occa`              | Serial OCCA kernels                                 |
370| `/gpu/occa`              | CUDA OCCA kernels                                   |
371| `/omp/occa`              | OpenMP OCCA kernels                                 |
372| `/ocl/occa`              | OpenCL OCCA kernels                                 |
373| `/gpu/cuda/ref`          | Reference pure CUDA kernels                         |
374| `/gpu/cuda/reg`          | Pure CUDA kernels using one thread per element      |
375| `/gpu/magma`             | CUDA MAGMA kernels                                  |
376
377Examples available in this release:
378
379:::{list-table}
380:header-rows: 1
381:widths: auto
382* - User code
383  - Example
384* - `ceed`
385  - * ex1 (volume)
386* - `mfem`
387  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
388    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
389* - `petsc`
390  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
391    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
392    * Navier-Stokes
393* - `nek5000`
394  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
395    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
396:::
397
398(v0-3)=
399
400## v0.3 (Sep 30, 2018)
401
402Notable features in this release include active/passive field interface, support for
403non-tensor bases, backend optimization, and improved Fortran interface. This release
404also focused on providing improved continuous integration, and many new tests with code
405coverage reports of about 90%. This release also provided a significant change to the
406public interface: a {ref}`CeedQFunction` can take any number of named input and output
407arguments while {ref}`CeedOperator` connects them to the actual data, which may be
408supplied explicitly to `CeedOperatorApply()` (active) or separately via
409`CeedOperatorSetField()` (passive). This interface change enables reusable libraries
410of CeedQFunctions and composition of block solvers constructed using
411{ref}`CeedOperator`. A concept of blocked restriction was added to this release and
412used in an optimized CPU backend. Although this is typically not visible to the user,
413it enables effective use of arbitrary-length SIMD while maintaining cache locality.
414This CPU backend also implements an algebraic factorization of tensor product gradients
415to perform fewer operations than standard application of interpolation and
416differentiation from nodes to quadrature points. This algebraic formulation
417automatically supports non-polynomial and non-interpolatory bases, thus is more general
418than the more common derivation in terms of Lagrange polynomials on the quadrature points.
419
420Backends available in this release:
421
422| CEED resource (`-ceed`) | Backend                                             |
423|-------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
424| `/cpu/self/blocked`     | Blocked reference implementation                    |
425| `/cpu/self/ref`         | Serial reference implementation                     |
426| `/cpu/self/tmpl`        | Backend template, defaults to `/cpu/self/blocked`   |
427| `/cpu/occa`             | Serial OCCA kernels                                 |
428| `/gpu/occa`             | CUDA OCCA kernels                                   |
429| `/omp/occa`             | OpenMP OCCA kernels                                 |
430| `/ocl/occa`             | OpenCL OCCA kernels                                 |
431| `/gpu/magma`            | CUDA MAGMA kernels                                  |
432
433Examples available in this release:
434
435:::{list-table}
436:header-rows: 1
437:widths: auto
438* - User code
439  - Example
440* - `ceed`
441  - * ex1 (volume)
442* - `mfem`
443  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
444    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
445* - `petsc`
446  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
447    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
448* - `nek5000`
449  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
450    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
451:::
452
453(v0-21)=
454
455## v0.21 (Sep 30, 2018)
456
457A MAGMA backend (which relies upon the
458[MAGMA](https://bitbucket.org/icl/magma) package) was integrated in libCEED for this
459release. This initial integration set up the framework of using MAGMA and provided the
460libCEED functionality through MAGMA kernels as one of libCEED’s computational backends.
461As any other backend, the MAGMA backend provides extended basic data structures for
462{ref}`CeedVector`, {ref}`CeedElemRestriction`, and {ref}`CeedOperator`, and implements
463the fundamental CEED building blocks to work with the new data structures.
464In general, the MAGMA-specific data structures keep the libCEED pointers to CPU data
465but also add corresponding device (e.g., GPU) pointers to the data. Coherency is handled
466internally, and thus seamlessly to the user, through the functions/methods that are
467provided to support them.
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| `/gpu/magma`            | CUDA MAGMA kernels              |
479
480Examples available in this release:
481
482:::{list-table}
483:header-rows: 1
484:widths: auto
485* - User code
486  - Example
487* - `ceed`
488  - * ex1 (volume)
489* - `mfem`
490  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
491    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
492* - `petsc`
493  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
494* - `nek5000`
495  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
496:::
497
498(v0-2)=
499
500## v0.2 (Mar 30, 2018)
501
502libCEED was made publicly available the first full CEED software distribution, release
503CEED 1.0. The distribution was made available using the Spack package manager to provide
504a common, easy-to-use build environment, where the user can build the CEED distribution
505with all dependencies. This release included a new Fortran interface for the library.
506This release also contained major improvements in the OCCA backend (including a new
507`/ocl/occa` backend) and new examples. The standalone libCEED example was modified to
508compute the volume volume of a given mesh (in 1D, 2D, or 3D) and placed in an
509`examples/ceed` subfolder. A new `mfem` example to perform BP3 (with the application
510of the Laplace operator) was also added to this release.
511
512Backends available in this release:
513
514| CEED resource (`-ceed`) | Backend                         |
515|-------------------------|---------------------------------|
516| `/cpu/self`             | Serial reference implementation |
517| `/cpu/occa`             | Serial OCCA kernels             |
518| `/gpu/occa`             | CUDA OCCA kernels               |
519| `/omp/occa`             | OpenMP OCCA kernels             |
520| `/ocl/occa`             | OpenCL OCCA kernels             |
521
522Examples available in this release:
523
524:::{list-table}
525:header-rows: 1
526:widths: auto
527* - User code
528  - Example
529* - `ceed`
530  - * ex1 (volume)
531* - `mfem`
532  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
533    * BP3 (scalar Laplace operator)
534* - `petsc`
535  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
536* - `nek5000`
537  - * BP1 (scalar mass operator)
538:::
539
540(v0-1)=
541
542## v0.1 (Jan 3, 2018)
543
544Initial low-level API of the CEED project. The low-level API provides a set of Finite
545Elements kernels and components for writing new low-level kernels. Examples include:
546vector and sparse linear algebra, element matrix assembly over a batch of elements,
547partial assembly and action for efficient high-order operators like mass, diffusion,
548advection, etc. The main goal of the low-level API is to establish the basis for the
549high-level API. Also, identifying such low-level kernels and providing a reference
550implementation for them serves as the basis for specialized backend implementations.
551This release contained several backends: `/cpu/self`, and backends which rely upon the
552[OCCA](http://github.com/libocca/occa) package, such as `/cpu/occa`,
553`/gpu/occa`, and `/omp/occa`.
554It also included several examples, in the `examples` folder:
555A standalone code that shows the usage of libCEED (with no external
556dependencies) to apply the Laplace operator, `ex1`; an `mfem` example to perform BP1
557(with the application of the mass operator); and a `petsc` example to perform BP1
558(with the application of the mass operator).
559
560Backends available in this release:
561
562| CEED resource (`-ceed`) | Backend                         |
563|-------------------------|---------------------------------|
564| `/cpu/self`             | Serial reference implementation |
565| `/cpu/occa`             | Serial OCCA kernels             |
566| `/gpu/occa`             | CUDA OCCA kernels               |
567| `/omp/occa`             | OpenMP OCCA kernels             |
568
569Examples available in this release:
570
571| User code             | Example                           |
572|-----------------------|-----------------------------------|
573| `ceed`                | ex1 (scalar Laplace operator)     |
574| `mfem`                | BP1 (scalar mass operator)        |
575| `petsc`               | BP1 (scalar mass operator)        |
576```
577