[petsc-dev] [petsc-users] new book introducing PETSc for PDEs

[Barry Smith]

   I have no problem updating any of Ed's examples if we need to with each release, so the burdern doesn't fall on him. We simply make a fork of his 
repository with a new branch and update that and make a MR to Ed for each release and he can have a new branch or tag of his examples for each new 
PETSc release.

   Barry

  We just make this part of our release process.

> On Oct 30, 2020, at 9:38 PM, Jed Brown <jed at jedbrown.org> wrote:
> 
> This is fine until an API for 3.15 changes and we need to sync with Ed's repository to make the tests pass. (You could argue we shouldn't do that to the interfaces that Ed has used for N releases, but it's bound to happen eventually.)
> 
> Junchao Zhang <junchao.zhang at gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> Ed,
>>  I agree with all what you said.  My thought is we don't need to add each
>> of your examples into corresponding src/XX/tutorials/.  Your repo can be a
>> standalone directory and we just need PETSc CI to be able to run them.
>> --Junchao Zhang
>> 
>> 
>> On Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 9:00 PM Ed Bueler <elbueler at alaska.edu> wrote:
>> 
>>> Junchao--
>>> 
>>>> I was wondering if it is feasible to add your example programs to PETSc
>>> tests so that readers will always be able to run your code.
>>> 
>>> Thanks for asking.  There was a deliberate idea here, which I want
>>> to explain, and the petsc-dev list is the right spot.  (Sorry if this is
>>> more than you want to know.)
>>> 
>>> First, the example programs are in a completely public spot:
>>>    https://github.com/bueler/p4pdes
>>> No one needs to own the book to run the codes, for example.  I welcome
>>> corrections/feedback/improvements through the issues interface at that
>>> repo, whether or not connected they are connected to the book text.
>>> 
>>> In fact, here are things one may observe about the petsc tutorial
>>> src/XX/tutorials/exN.c) examples:
>>> 
>>> 1.  They may or may not point to a clear document(s) which can help a
>>> beginner know how they are designed.
>>> 2.  They don't have a uniform style because of different authorship.
>>> 3.  They are not ordered by difficulty in any clear way.  (E.g. ex1.c may
>>> not be the best example to start with, and the beginner would not be able
>>> to grep to find "easy" even if they can find some function from the API
>>> that way.)
>>> 4.  Their features evolve over time as developers work with the examples
>>> as regression/feature tests.  (See src/snes/tutorials/ex5.c.)
>>> 
>>> Note that all of these facts are exactly what petsc devs would want!  That
>>> is, the way the set of examples in the petsc tree are structured helps with
>>> fast development by a diverse dev team.
>>> 
>>> However the same facts make the examples less friendly to those who don't
>>> already know petsc.  Thus my opinion about the book's example codes is that
>>> a single source of stable examples, ordered by difficulty, closely tied to
>>> beginner documentation, of uniform style, and kinda boring to most petsc
>>> devs, is something I can supply and maintain.  So I'll be acting as editor
>>> to preserve the intent and simplicity of the examples.
>>> 
>>> Does that make sense?
>>> 
>>> Needless to say, fork my repo all you want!  The MIT license is nice and
>>> permissive.
>>> 
>>> Ed
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 4:50 PM Junchao Zhang <junchao.zhang at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Prof. Ed Bueler,
>>>>   Congratulations on your book. I am eager to read it.
>>>>   I was wondering if it is feasible to add your example programs to
>>>> PETSc tests so that readers will always be able to run your code.
>>>> --Junchao Zhang
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 8:29 PM Ed Bueler <elbueler at alaska.edu> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> All --
>>>>> 
>>>>> SIAM Press just published my new book "PETSc for Partial Differential
>>>>> Equations: Numerical Solutions in C and Python":
>>>>> 
>>>>>  https://my.siam.org/Store/Product/viewproduct/?ProductId=32850137
>>>>> 
>>>>> The book is available both as a paperback and an e-book with working
>>>>> links.  A SIAM member discount is available, of course.
>>>>> 
>>>>> This book is a genuine introduction which does not assume you have used
>>>>> PETSc before, and which should make sense even if your differential
>>>>> equations knowledge is basic.  The prerequisites are a bit of programming
>>>>> in C and a bit of numerical linear algebra, roughly like the main ideas of
>>>>> Trefethen and Bau, but even that is reviewed and summarized.  I've made an
>>>>> effort to introduce discretizations from the beginning, especially finite
>>>>> differences and elements.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The book is based on a collection of example programs at
>>>>> https://github.com/bueler/p4pdes.  Most of these codes call PETSc
>>>>> directly through the C API, but the last two chapters have Python codes
>>>>> using UFL and Firedrake.  Nonetheless the book contains ideas, mathematical
>>>>> and computational; it complements, but does not replace, the PETSc User's
>>>>> Manual and the tutorial examples in the PETSc source.  Concepts are
>>>>> explained and illustrated, with sufficient context to facilitate further
>>>>> development. Performance (optimality) and parallel scalability are the
>>>>> primary goals, so preconditioners including multigrid are central threads,
>>>>> and run-time solver options are explored in both the text and the exercises.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Here is the place to appreciate the usual PETSc suspects for their
>>>>> comments on drafts, and help in writing this book: Barry, Jed, Matt, Dave,
>>>>> Rich, Lois, Patrick, Mark, Satish, David K., and many others.  Also let me
>>>>> say that SIAM Press has nothing but professionals who are nice to work with
>>>>> too; send them your book idea!
>>>>> 
>>>>> Ed
>>>>> 
>>>>> --
>>>>> Ed Bueler
>>>>> Dept of Mathematics and Statistics
>>>>> University of Alaska Fairbanks
>>>>> Fairbanks, AK 99775-6660
>>>>> 306C Chapman
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Ed Bueler
>>> Dept of Mathematics and Statistics
>>> University of Alaska Fairbanks
>>> Fairbanks, AK 99775-6660
>>> 306C Chapman
>>>