| 1 | <html> |
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| 2 | <head> |
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| 3 | <title> |
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| 4 | A Tour of NTL: Obtaining and Installing NTL for Windows |
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| 5 | and other Platforms </title> |
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| 6 | </head> |
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| 7 | |
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| 8 | <body bgcolor="#fff9e6"> |
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| 9 | <center> |
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| 10 | <a href="tour-unix.html"><img src="arrow1.gif" alt="[Previous]" align=bottom></a> |
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| 11 | <a href="tour.html"><img src="arrow2.gif" alt="[Up]" align=bottom></a> |
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| 13 | </center> |
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| 14 | |
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| 15 | <h1> |
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| 16 | <p align=center> |
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| 17 | A Tour of NTL: Obtaining and Installing NTL for Windows |
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| 18 | and other Platforms |
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| 19 | </p> |
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| 20 | </h1> |
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| 21 | |
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| 22 | <p> <hr> <p> |
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| 23 | |
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| 24 | The WinNTL distribution of |
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| 25 | NTL can be used on any Windows 95 or NT platform |
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| 26 | (but not on Windows 3.11 or earlier). |
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| 27 | Actually, there is nothing Windows-specific about WinNTL. |
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| 28 | The source code is identical to the UNIX NTL distribution; |
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| 29 | only the packaging is slightly different, and no assumptions |
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| 30 | are made about the program development environment. |
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| 31 | Thus, it should be possible to install WinNTL on |
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| 32 | other operating systems (e.g., Macintosh, OS/2) |
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| 33 | with little difficulty. |
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| 34 | |
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| 35 | <p> |
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| 36 | <b>MAC OSX Users:</b> |
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| 37 | since MAC OSX is essentially just a (rather funny) flavor of Unix, |
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| 38 | you will be much better served using the |
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| 39 | <a href="tour-unix.html">Unix distribution</a>. |
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| 40 | |
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| 41 | |
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| 42 | <p> |
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| 43 | <b> |
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| 44 | Obtaining and unpacking NTL. |
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| 45 | </b> |
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| 46 | <p> |
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| 47 | |
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| 48 | To obtain the source code and documentation for NTL, |
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| 49 | <a href="http://www.shoup.net/ntl/download.html"> |
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| 50 | download <tt>WinNTL-xxx.zip</tt></a>. |
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| 51 | Here, "<tt>xxx</tt>" is the current version number. |
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| 52 | Then <tt>unzip</tt> this file into a directory (folder). |
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| 53 | This will unpack everything into a directory called "<tt>WinNTL-xxx</tt>". |
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| 54 | Inside this directory, you will find several directories. |
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| 55 | |
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| 56 | <p> |
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| 57 | |
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| 58 | <ul> |
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| 59 | <li> |
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| 60 | |
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| 61 | The directory "<tt>doc</tt>" contains all of NTL's documentation, |
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| 62 | including this "tour" ("<tt>tour.html</tt>") |
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| 63 | and the "<tt>.txt</tt>" files explaining each module, |
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| 64 | which can be accessed directly, or through the "tour". |
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| 65 | |
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| 66 | <p> |
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| 67 | <li> |
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| 68 | |
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| 69 | The directory "<tt>src</tt>" |
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| 70 | contains all of the source files for the library, |
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| 71 | all with "<tt>.cpp</tt>" extensions. |
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| 72 | The file "<tt>lip.cpp</tt>" can be compiled as a C source file |
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| 73 | (this can sometimes yield a marginal performance gain). |
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| 74 | |
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| 75 | <p> |
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| 76 | <li> |
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| 77 | |
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| 78 | The directory "<tt>include</tt>" contains a single directory called |
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| 79 | "<tt>NTL</tt>", |
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| 80 | and the latter contains all of the "<tt>.h</tt>" files. |
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| 81 | |
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| 82 | </ul> |
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| 83 | |
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| 84 | <p> |
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| 85 | |
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| 86 | <b> |
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| 87 | Platform dependent macros. |
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| 88 | </b> |
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| 89 | <p> |
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| 90 | |
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| 91 | In directory "<tt>include/NTL</tt>" there is a file called |
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| 92 | "<tt>mach_desc.h</tt>", |
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| 93 | which contains all of the platform-dependent macro definitions. |
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| 94 | The default settings should be correct for any x86- or Pentium-based |
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| 95 | system running Windows; however, the correct definitions |
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| 96 | can depend on the compiler and run-time environment. |
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| 97 | Therefore, to be on the safe side, |
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| 98 | you might consider compiling and running the program <tt>MakeDesc</tt>, |
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| 99 | whose source files are in directory "<tt>MakeDesc</tt>". |
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| 100 | This program will |
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| 101 | dynamically build |
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| 102 | a correct "<tt>mach_desc.h</tt>" for your platform (processor, compiler, |
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| 103 | run-time environment). |
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| 104 | To get accurate results, |
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| 105 | you must compile this program using the level of optimization |
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| 106 | (or higher) that you will use for NTL. |
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| 107 | The program will print some diagnostics to the screen, |
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| 108 | and create the file "<tt>mach_desc.h</tt>" (in the current |
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| 109 | directory, and not in the "<tt>include/NTL</tt>" directory, |
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| 110 | where it needs to go). |
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| 111 | |
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| 112 | <p> |
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| 113 | <b> |
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| 114 | Configuration flags. |
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| 115 | </b> |
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| 116 | <p> |
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| 117 | |
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| 118 | Also in directory "<tt>include/NTL</tt>" is a file called "<tt>config.h</tt>". |
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| 119 | You can edit this file to override some of NTL's default options |
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| 120 | for <i>basic configuration</i> and <i>performance</i>. |
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| 121 | |
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| 122 | <p> |
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| 123 | |
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| 124 | <dl> |
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| 125 | <dt> |
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| 126 | <i>Basic configuration options.</i> |
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| 127 | <dd> |
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| 128 | Most of the these flags are rather esoteric and can be safely |
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| 129 | ignored. |
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| 130 | <p> |
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| 131 | |
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| 132 | One exception to this is the <tt>NTL_STD_CXX</tt> flag |
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| 133 | (or perhaps just the <tt>NTL_PSTD_NNS</tt> flag) which |
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| 134 | you will want to unset if your compiler is too old |
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| 135 | to handle it. |
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| 136 | <a href="tour-stdcxx.html">Go here</a> for details. |
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| 137 | |
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| 138 | <p> |
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| 139 | |
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| 140 | Another exception are the flags to use GMP for potentially |
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| 141 | faster long integer arithmetic. |
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| 142 | See the <a href="tour-gmp.html">GMP</a> section for more details. |
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| 143 | Note that getting GMP to run on Windows is a pain in the neck. |
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| 144 | If you really want to use GMP, use Unix or Linux! |
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| 145 | |
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| 146 | <p> |
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| 147 | |
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| 148 | <dt> |
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| 149 | <i>Performance options.</i> |
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| 150 | <dd> |
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| 151 | These flags let you fine tune for best performance. |
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| 152 | (If you were using Unix, you could run a script that |
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| 153 | automatically selects the best settings for your platform.) |
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| 154 | |
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| 155 | |
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| 156 | <p> |
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| 157 | <i>TIP for Pentium platforms:</i> |
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| 158 | <ul> |
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| 159 | <li> |
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| 160 | Users running |
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| 161 | on a Pentium, or other x86-like processor, |
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| 162 | will almost surely want to set the <tt>NTL_LONG_LONG</tt> flag, |
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| 163 | or possibly the <tt>NTL_AVOID_FLOAT</tt> flag, in file <tt>config.h</tt> |
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| 164 | to get the best performance for long integer arithmetic. |
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| 165 | If you set either of these flags, you should also set the |
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| 166 | <tt>NTL_TBL_REM</tt> flag as well, to get the best |
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| 167 | performance for <tt>ZZ_pX</tt> arithmetic. |
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| 168 | You might also want to set the <tt>NTL_SPMM_ULL</tt> or <tt>NTL_SMPP_UL</tt> |
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| 169 | flags. |
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| 170 | |
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| 171 | <li> |
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| 172 | These flags can be useful on other platforms as well, |
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| 173 | especially on processors with slow int/float conversion. |
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| 174 | |
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| 175 | <li> |
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| 176 | The best thing is to experiment, and compile and run program <tt>QuickTest</tt> |
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| 177 | to see the impact on the running time of various basic operations. |
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| 178 | </ul> |
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| 179 | </dl> |
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| 180 | |
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| 181 | <p> |
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| 182 | Note that the file "<tt>def_config.h</tt>" |
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| 183 | contains a backup copy of the original <tt>config.h</tt> file. |
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| 184 | |
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| 185 | |
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| 186 | <p> |
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| 187 | <b> |
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| 188 | Test programs. |
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| 189 | </b> |
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| 190 | <p> |
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| 191 | |
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| 192 | The directory "<tt>tests</tt>" contains several test programs. |
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| 193 | For each program <tt>FooTest</tt>, there is a source file |
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| 194 | "<tt>FooTest.cpp</tt>", and optionally two files |
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| 195 | "<tt>FooTestIn</tt>" and "<tt>FooTestOut</tt>". |
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| 196 | If the latter exist, then the program should be run with |
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| 197 | the "<tt>FooTestIn</tt>" as standard input; |
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| 198 | correct output (printed to standard output) should match |
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| 199 | the contents of "<tt>FooTestOut</tt>" exactly; |
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| 200 | note that these programs also print diagnostic output on the screen |
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| 201 | (through standard error output). |
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| 202 | |
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| 203 | <p> |
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| 204 | <b> |
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| 205 | Timing functions. |
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| 206 | </b> |
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| 207 | <p> |
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| 208 | |
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| 209 | The directory "<tt>GetTime</tt>" contains several alternative |
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| 210 | definitions of the <tt>GetTime()</tt> function. |
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| 211 | The file "<tt>GetTime.cpp</tt>" in the "<tt>src</tt>" directory should be OK, |
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| 212 | but your compiler might like one of the definitions in |
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| 213 | the directory "<tt>GetTime</tt>" better. |
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| 214 | |
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| 215 | <p> |
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| 216 | <b> |
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| 217 | Other tools. |
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| 218 | </b> |
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| 219 | <p> |
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| 220 | |
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| 221 | The directory "<tt>misc</tt>" contains a program <tt>newnames.cpp</tt> |
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| 222 | to help make the |
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| 223 | transition to NTL version 3.5 from earlier versions of NTL. |
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| 224 | See the <a href="tour-changes.html">changes</a> section for more details. |
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| 225 | It also contains the programs <tt>gen_lip_gmp_aux.cpp</tt> |
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| 226 | and <tt>gen_gmp_aux.cpp</tt> that automatically generate |
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| 227 | the auxilliary files needed when using NTL with GMP. |
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| 228 | You will have to look at the makefile in the Unix distribution |
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| 229 | to see how to use these. |
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| 230 | |
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| 231 | |
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| 232 | |
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| 233 | <p> |
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| 234 | <b> |
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| 235 | Compiling NTL. |
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| 236 | </b> |
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| 237 | <p> |
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| 238 | |
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| 239 | Since there are a number of incompatible compilers and program development |
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| 240 | environments available for Windows, no attempt has been made to |
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| 241 | provide automatic tools for building and testing, |
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| 242 | as is done for the Unix distribution. |
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| 243 | Nevertheless, |
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| 244 | it should be straightforward to install NTL (even if it involves a bit of |
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| 245 | pointing and clicking). |
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| 246 | First, compile all of the files in "<tt>src</tt>", and create a static library. |
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| 247 | Make sure the compiler knows where to find NTL's include files |
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| 248 | (directory "<tt>include</tt>" and <i>not</i> "<tt>include/NTL</tt>") |
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| 249 | Then, to compile a program using the library, |
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| 250 | make sure the compiler knows about the library and the directory |
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| 251 | of NTL's include files. |
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| 252 | In any case, if you want to do any serious computations, |
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| 253 | you will certainly want to compile everything with your |
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| 254 | compiler's code optimizer on. |
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| 255 | |
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| 256 | <p> |
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| 257 | For the benefit of those who must use Microsoft Visual C++ on Windows, |
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| 258 | here are some steps for compiling and using NTL. |
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| 259 | These steps work with MSVC++ v6. |
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| 260 | While these steps seem to do the job, |
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| 261 | there may be other steps that work better. |
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| 262 | |
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| 263 | The following steps may be used to build the library, |
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| 264 | and to build and run program <tt>QuickTest</tt>, as a simple |
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| 265 | <i>console application</i>, using the library. |
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| 266 | The instructions assume you have already |
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| 267 | unzipped NTL into a directory <tt>c:\mystuff</tt>, |
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| 268 | and are running the MSVC++ Development Studio. |
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| 269 | |
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| 270 | <p> |
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| 271 | I hope these instructions make some sense: |
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| 272 | I don't know a good language for accuratly describing the |
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| 273 | particular pointing an clicking steps. |
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| 274 | |
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| 275 | <p> |
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| 276 | |
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| 277 | <pre> |
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| 278 | |
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| 279 | File -> New -> Projects |
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| 280 | project name: ntl |
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| 281 | location[default]: c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\MyProjects\ntl |
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| 282 | Click on Win32 static library |
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| 283 | Click on OK |
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| 284 | pre-compiled headers[default]: no |
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| 285 | MFC support[default]: no |
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| 286 | Click on Finish |
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| 287 | Click on OK |
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| 288 | |
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| 289 | Project -> Add to Project -> Files |
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| 290 | select all files in c:\mystuff\WinNTL-xxx\src and click on OK. |
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| 291 | |
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| 292 | Project -> Settings -> C/C++ |
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| 293 | Category: Preprocessor. |
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| 294 | Additional include directories: c:\mystuff\WinNTL-xxx\include. |
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| 295 | Click on OK. |
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| 296 | |
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| 297 | Build -> build ntl.lib |
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| 298 | |
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| 299 | File -> New -> Projects -> Win32 Console Application |
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| 300 | project name: test |
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| 301 | location[default]: c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\MyProjects\ntl |
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| 302 | Click on Win32 Console Application |
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| 303 | Click on OK |
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| 304 | What kind of windows application...? [default]: An empty project |
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| 305 | Click on Finish |
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| 306 | Click on OK |
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| 307 | |
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| 308 | Project -> Add to Project -> Files |
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| 309 | select the file c:\mystuff\WinNTL-xxx\tests\QuickTest.cpp |
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| 310 | Click on OK |
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| 311 | |
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| 312 | Project -> Add to Project -> Files |
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| 313 | select the file |
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| 314 | c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\MyProjects\ntl\Debug\ntl.lib |
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| 315 | Note: one must select Files of type: Library Files (.lib) to make this |
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| 316 | file visible in the pop-up window. |
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| 317 | Click on OK |
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| 318 | |
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| 319 | Project -> Settings -> C/C++ |
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| 320 | Category: Preprocessor. |
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| 321 | Additional include directories: c:\mystuff\WinNTL-xxx\include. |
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| 322 | Click on OK. |
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| 323 | |
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| 324 | Build -> build test.exe |
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| 325 | |
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| 326 | Build -> execute test.exe |
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| 327 | |
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| 328 | </pre> |
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| 329 | |
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| 330 | <p> |
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| 331 | <b> |
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| 332 | Further remarks. |
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| 333 | </b> |
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| 334 | <p> |
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| 335 | |
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| 336 | <p> |
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| 337 | <i>TIP:</i> When writing programs using NTL, |
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| 338 | you should include files using the syntax |
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| 339 | <pre> |
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| 340 | #include <NTL/ZZ.h> |
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| 341 | </pre> |
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| 342 | and <i>not</i> using a backslash ("<tt>\</tt>") as a delimiter. |
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| 343 | |
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| 344 | <p> |
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| 345 | <i>TIP:</i> When writing <i>windows applications</i> using NTL |
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| 346 | (as opposed to <i>console applications</i>) you might want to compile |
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| 347 | your program with the <tt>NTL_NO_MIN_MAX</tt> macro defined. |
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| 348 | This suppresses the declaration of several <tt>min</tt> |
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| 349 | and <tt>max</tt> functions in file <tt>tools.h</tt> that conflict |
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| 350 | with macro names in the MFC header files. |
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| 351 | Do not attempt to build the library with this macro defined -- only |
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| 352 | programs that use the library. |
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| 353 | |
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| 354 | <p> |
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| 355 | NTL has been successfully installed and tested |
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| 356 | on Windows 95 platforms with both the |
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| 357 | Microsoft and Borland compilers. |
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| 358 | |
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| 359 | <p> |
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| 360 | If you have installed the Unix tools from |
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| 361 | <a href="http://www.cygnus.com">Cygnus</a>, then you can use the |
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| 362 | <a href="tour-unix.html">Unix</a> distribution of NTL. |
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| 363 | This distribution has been specially tailored to work smoothly |
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| 364 | with Cygnus tools. |
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| 365 | For many programmers, |
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| 366 | this is a much more comfortable and reliable program development environment |
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| 367 | than commercial systems like those from Microsoft and Borland. |
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| 368 | And moreover, these Unix tools are <i>free</i>. |
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| 369 | Of course, an even better approach is to install |
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| 370 | <a href="http://www.linux.org">Linux</a> on your PC. |
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| 371 | |
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| 372 | |
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| 373 | <p> |
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| 374 | |
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| 375 | <center> |
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| 376 | <a href="tour-unix.html"><img src="arrow1.gif" alt="[Previous]" align=bottom></a> |
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| 379 | </center> |
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| 380 | |
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| 382 | </body> |
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| 383 | </html> |
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