Version 0.31 2002/04/05



CubTop - README
===================

  :: A program which manipulates with representable sets. ::



  Version 0.3 - April 2002
  --------------------------

    Copyright (C) 2002      Tomasz Kaczynski: kaczyn@dmi.usherb.ca
                            Sylvain Berube: berus00@dmi.usherb.ca
                            Anik Trahan: trahan@dmi.usherb.ca



  SUMMARY:

    CubTop is intended to manipulate with cubical representable sets.
    Currently it contains the following functions.

      (a) topological operations on representable sets :
          - union;
          - intersection;
          - disjoined union;
          - Cartesian product.
        
      (b) extracting informations from a representable set :
          - free faces;
          - proper faces;
          - maximal faces;
          - topological boundary;
          - open hull;
          - closed hull.

      (c) Storing representable set on a file;

      (d) Getting an image (bitmap) of a 1D or 2D representable set.



  REQUIREMENTS:

    CubTop currently runs under Unix only.



  INSTALLATION:

    1.  Extract the distribution of CubTop in your favourite folder.
    2.  That's all !

    You can now execute the program 'cubtop'.
    For information on how to use it, see next sections.



  CREATING INPUT FILES:
  
    These are text files. Their names must have an extension,
    e.g. ' figure.txt'.
  
    A file of a representable set looks like this:
	 
        Type of set : R
        Space Dimension : 2
        (4) x (4)
        (0) x (0,1)
        (3,4) x (2)
        (1,2) x (2,3)

    A file of a cubical set looks like this:

        Type of set : C
        Space Dimension : 2
        [1] x [2]
        [3] x [1,2]
        [3] x [2,3]
        [3,4] x [-1,0]
        
  - The first line 'Type of set : R' (respectively C)  indicate if this is a
    representable or a closed cubical set.

  - The second line 'Space Dimension : 2' indicate the embedding number of
    the set.

  - All the other lines indicate the elementary cell (or cube) which constitute
    the set. So, the set is the union of these elementary cells or cubes.

  - Comments may be placed in lines starting from " ; ". 

  - See the directory Examples for more examples. 	



  RUNNING CUBTOP 

    CubTop contains the following functions :
      - union;
      - intersection;
      - disjoinedunion;
      - product;
      - freefaces;
      - properfaces;
      - maximalfaces;
      - topobounds;
      - getdimension;
      - openhull;
      - closedhull.

    All these functions serve to manipulate representable (or cubical) sets
    stored on a file. The file name must have an extension, 
    e.g. ' figure1.txt', ' figure2.cub', ' figure.rep'.   

    Execute the program CubTop without any parameters to see the general
    help of the program.

        server> cubtop  [enter]
        server> *** you'll see the general help of cubtop ***


    To see the help of a specific function, simply call the function
    without any parameters. For example :

        server> cubtop intersection  [enter]
        server> *** you'll see the help of the function intersection ***


    To execute a function, simply call the function with the file name for input.  
    The program needs only the four first letters of the function. For example :

        server> cubtop union figure1.txt figure2.txt   [enter]
        server> cubtop prop figure1.txt   [enter]
        

    Each function can be call with these options:

          -o [file] - create a output file 
          -g [file] - create a bmp file of a 1D or 2D set 
          -c        - show the result in a cubical set (if possible)
          -b        - results will not be printed on screen


    Yon can call the program without function, but with options.
    For example, to create a bitmap file of the figure1.txt :

        server> cubtop figure1.txt -g -b [enter]



  DEVELOPMENT TO COME:

    - Match CubTop with cubical homology program of Pawel Pilarzyk.

    - Provide rescaling necessary to accept bitmap.

    - 3D visualisation of a representable set on bitmap.

    - More...



  AUTHORS
    
	Sylvain Berube <berus00@dmi.usherb.ca>
	Anik Trahan <trahan@dmi.usherb.ca>


    Some codes provided or inspired by :

      Pawel Pilarczyk
        (class pptextfile, ptk.cc)

      Antoine Pineau
        (class AVLtree, class AVLnode)

      Jonathan Ruel
        (class bitmap)



  CUBTOP TEAM:

    Tomasz Kaczynski: kaczyn@dmi.usherb.ca
    Anik Trahan: trahan@dmi.usherb.ca
    Sylvain Bérubé: berus00@dmi.usherb.ca




              ENJOY !
       Comments are welcome.




The CubTop team.