How to Use GAMSLocal

We have come to rely on a wide variety of tools to help us mine large research libraries for useful nuggets of information. Among these tools are cross-indexes such as the card catalog, Mathematical Reviews, Current Index to Statistics , the ACM Guide to Computing Literature , Science Citation Index, and the various classiication systems upon which these are based. Today we are seeing explosive growth of the so-called information super-highway, a network-based resource whose size and complexity will far surpass any existing library. In spite of this, the networks still lack many of the navigational aids common in library settings. As a concrete example, consider an average computer user searching for software for solving a Sturm-Liouville eigen-value problem. A number of good software packages exist for solving problems like this. They might be installed in commercial libraries setup for use at a local computing site, or they might be research-grade public-domain packages available for downloading on the Internet. (Network-based distribution of such mathematical software was pioneered by the netlib project 4], and today there are substantial collections accessible in this way.) Unfortunately , our user has a diicult time dealing with this bounty. Even with the knowledge of where and how to traverse the labyrinthine computer network to a software repository, it is still a tedious and error-prone process to determine what is actually applicable to the problem at hand. Each repository may have a diierent access mechanism and directory services are usually primitive at best. Our user would be greatly helped by an easily accessible centralized information resource (i.e., a cross-index) with problem-oriented directory services , and facilities to retrieve software and related items once they are located. Fortunately , systems with these characteristics are beginning to emerge. The Guide to Available Mathematical Software (GAMS) is one such service. GAMS currently contains information on some 9000 problem-solving software modules from about 80 packages distributed over four physically distributed software repositories (three at NIST, and netlib). The system supports search for software by problem classiication, keyword, or name, as well as retrieval of items such as abstracts, documentation, examples and source code. (Some 32,000 objects can be retrieved in this way.) GAMS performs the function of an inter-repository and inter-package cross-index, as well as the functions of a repository itself (i.e., retrieval). However, instead of maintaining the cataloged software itself, GAMS provides transparent access to multiple repositories managed by …