
WHAT IS CMAP ?

	Cmap is a tool for general numerical computation. Its user-friendly
	environment and C-like syntax is definitely easier to learn and use than
	that of expensive commercial packages of comparable power.
		
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HOW TO GET STARTED:

	- Run CMAP if it is not already running
	- Select menu: Help > Help-Topics
	- Read and follow the instructions in the tutorial sections
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HOW TO MASTER CMAP:

	- After the first tutorial (1 hr), you can use Cmap as an expression
	  calculator to compute, and to plot curves.
	- It is a good idea to survey CMap documentation to see what Cmap offers
	  and then learn and use only what you need.
	- The best way to learn is to explore and experiment with the examples
	  provided in CMap-Help.

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IF CMAP IS NOT WORKING PROPERLY ON YOUR MACHNINE:

	You may need a new version of Microsoft's COMCTL32.DLL for CMAP to work
	properly.

	You can download a copy of COMCTL32.DLL from Microsoft's site or from
	http://download.cnet.com/
	
	The library files MFC42.DLL and CJ609LIB.DLL are included in the downloaded
	CMAP package. CMAP Installer places MFC42.DLL in the system share folder, and
	CJ609LIB.DLL in CMAP-Directrory.
	
	CMAP also needs many system libraries (DLL) which are part of Windows
	Operating System. Missing DLL or very old versions will prevent proper
	operation of CMAP:
	
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CMAP-Discussion Forum

	The discussion Forum is for CMAP-Users to:
	- Share experience, information
	- Post questions, answers
	- Download/upload CMAP-application program files
	- Get news on bugs and latest version of CMAP
	
	Interested users should:
	
	a) First register for membership of:
	
		http://www.egroups.com
		
	b) Subscribe to CMap-Discussion Forum at:
	
		http://www.egroups.com/group/cmap


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SURVEY OF CMAP USERS

In order to continue improving Cmap, and to serve Cmap users, I greatly
appreciate your taking the time to respond to the following few questions:

1. I received a copy of Cmap from:
	(a) Friends: ___	(b) Internet download: ___  (c) Other: _______

2. I am:
	(a) Student ___   	(b) Instructor ____ (c) Other: _______________
   
3. My main application area is:
   (e.g. physics, math, engineering, ...)

4. I have also used the following math packages: _________________

5. Additional comments/suggestions for improvements:

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CONTACT THE AUTHOR:

	Cmap is being continually developed and it will remain free. If you enjoy
	using Cmap, please kindly send me a POSTCARD of your city or home-town:

				Kinh H. Ha, Professor
				Department of BCE, Rm.BE353
				Concordia University
				1455 de Maisonneuve W.
				Montreal, QC, Canada H3G-1M8
				
				E-mail: HaKinh@alcor.concordia.ca

	I would be interested in knowning how you have used Cmap
	(see Questions in the preceding section).
	
Special Needs?
	If you have a need for special functions in your application
	area, I'll be happy to consider it.
	

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VERSIONS HISTORY

Version		Date		Remarks

6.5.4(d)	Oct. 30 - Add 3 newfunctions for packed integer arrays:
					  zeropackedarray(), setpackedarray(), getpackedarray(). 

6.5.4(c)			- To activate "Globals" Tab Window on program execution.
6.5.4(b)
			Sep. 30 - Improved automatic syntax checking during editing of activated 
          			   program.
        			- New option to disable automatic update of activated program.
			Sep. 29 - Fixed the undesirable feature (i.e. a bug) where buit-in function
          				could be turned into user-defined function (Thanks to Sally Rainbow's 
          				bug report)
			Sep. 26 - Instantaneous display of user-defined functions
			Sep. 24 - Correct a silly oversight in v.6.5.3.1 (beta version)
			Sep. 23 - Combobox in inform() for selection of items
					- Option to turn off warning message on switching DEGREES/RADIANS

6.5.3
			Sept. 18:
   					- Grouped all options into one convenient Option-Setting dialog that
     					is accessible anywhere, any time.


6.5.2		Sep.  9 - Added Radians/Degrees option to dialogs' menus
					- Better update of User-defined-functions trees. Still not 100%
					  synchronized
					- Added trace() function and options for tracing function
					  executions.
					- Corrected a bug that, in rare circumstance, displayed wrong
					  caption title for user-defined function context in the
					  inform-window.
					  
			Aug. 30:
					- Fixed error caused by a line terminated by the slash character
					- Stopped annoying message in select() row/column
					- Automatic update of inform-window after data recall
					
6.5.1		Aug. 12:- Finetuned display of matrices: Position, size, and number of
					  digits (a new control).
					- Renamed function tofraction() as dtof() and introduce new
					  function ftod().
					- Revised the date converter for better display of data.
					  
				 10:- Added function getnum() for prompting user input
					- Displayed help-error by doubleclick "Error #" in Calc-Window
					 
				 7: Cmap.ini file for saving strings in find/replace and Mini-Calc.
					Calc.ini file for saving expressions in main Calc-Window
					
			July 7: Mousewheel support for panning and scrolling of text and draw
					documents.
				 5: New option for lfit(): Minimize perpendicular deviations
				 4: - Fixed problem caused by excessively small tol# in built-in
				      functions roots(), jacob(), grad(), deriv(), minzs().
				 	- Added setop(A,N); to enable/diable axes plotting by plot().
				 	
6.5.0		June 3:	Second release for Internet download.
				Added three new array operators (&*, &/, &^) for working
				with tabular data (for details, see Help Topic: Tables).

6.4.5		March 28:	- Numerous new graphic functions have been added to enable
				font options, graphic animation and programmable graphic 
				editing capability. This will create minor incompatibility
				with previous versions' graphic files and programs.
				Old graphic image files cannot be accessed now.
						
				- In all cases, simple program-adjustments can be easily
				made. Refer to the new documentation on the functions
				or data items that failed.
						
				- In particular, the matrix returned by most graphic
				functions is no longer the Data-Range. The new function
						!Range = getrange()
				should now be used to get the latest Data-Range.
						
6.4.4		March 4: 	- Added 12 new functions for financial calculations.
				- Added new functions for statistics (plothistogram, randfill,
				  randnorm, randnormfill) and common math (log10).
				  		
6.4.3		Feb. 2000	First release for Internet download


6.0			Sept.20,99	Release of first Windows version for use by students in
				engineering courses at Concordia University

5.5			March 98	DOS-based last version

1.0			Sept. 90	DOS-based first version. This first CMAP DOS-version was
				a major revision of MAP6000 (Matrix Analysis Package, 1973),
				which was developed in FORTRAN for learning/teaching of
				Structural Analysis.

CMAP-DOS v.1 was written in C using Turbo C and subsequent versions with
Borland C++. CMAP-Windows versions were written in C++ using Visual C++ and MFC.
						
The effort and time devoted to CMAP has been enormous, and so has been the
pleasure and satisfaction derived from such a challenge. CMap is dedicated
to motivated students and instructors of all Nations.

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THINGS TO COME

1. string data type and manipulation of strings
2. User-defined function name as functions' arguments
3. Full featured debugging facilities
4. Visual editing of graphics

