Release 11.1 is mainly a maintenance upgrade, addressing some bugs have been detected since GEMPACK Release 11 (October 2011)
of GEMPACK was introduced. The main changes are briefly described below.
Fixed GFortran problems
Since our experience with GFortran is short, we have inevitably discovered (and fixed) several anomalies:
Fixed GFortran problems when there are spaces in filenames.
Fixed GFortran problem when doing parallel processing (servants); jobs were being done in sequence rather than simultaneously [Thanks to FEEM
researchers for noticing this].
Some users have been disappointed with GFortran's performance: GFortran compiles much slower than the Lahey compiler, and usually runs slower than
the Intel compiler. Results are quite model-dependent. See this comparison table.
"Index-in-set" problems
The index-in-set feature was introduced in Release 11. Early experience identified two problems:
Our implementation could be slow.
When equations using index-in-set were involved in substitutions, errors could occur, either at TABLO-time or run-time. We even managed to
construct examples where GEMSIM or a TABLO-generated program might produce the wrong answer, without warning the user.
To address both problems, the feature has been entirely re-implemented. Now, TABLO internally translates index-in-set expressions into conditional
SUM expressions. If you make a typing error in your TAB file, you may see an error or warning message that refers to these SUMs (even though they
are not present in the original TAB file).
Other Improvements
Interative refinement of solutions is now controlled by residual ratios, an improvement over using unscaled residuals. Technical details
here.
CMBHAR now adds a header containing the COMBINED set to the output file -- useful if a TABLO-generated
program is processing that file.
Improvements to GUI (Windows) programs
GUI programs like AnalyseGE, ViewHAR and ViewSOL have a Help..What's New menu item which lists recent improvements. These include:
In ViewHAR, a new item on the File menu allows you to compare (ie, see the numerical differences between) 2 SL4 files.
In ViewHAR, a new viewing option, Hide zero rows and columns, suppresses display of table rows or columns which contain only zeroes.
In ViewHAR, the Compare items on the File menu allow you to compute difference metrics, as used in the CMPHAR program.
ViewHAR warns you if some other program has changed the file you are viewing. The dialog that appears in this case now offers a
"Don't-ask-again" option.
TABmate now warns you if a file has been changed by another program while you were viewing it. You will be offered a chance to read in
[reload] the modified file.
In ViewSOL's Time Series Mode, the Magic Letter is now appended to the top left cell of any table you copy to the clipboard -- to help you
remember whether numbers you paste to Excel are from Base, Policy or Deviation results, and whether they are Cumulative or Year-on-year.
In ViewSOL, the default output filename used when Converting a sequence of solutions into a HAR File now indicates whether results are Base,
Policy or Deviation, and whether Cumulative or Year-on-year.
GEMPACK Windows programs impose limitations on the use of UNC filenames, such as: \\cge-15ea10938e1\tempshare\file.har. Better warnings now
appear if you choose such file locations. You can work around the problem by mapping network shares to a drive letter.
XLS2HEAD can now take XSLX files as input.
RunGEM now allows more than 10 data files.
Availability
Release 11.1 will be supplied to all new GEMPACK purchasers from May 2012. Current subscribers to the "annual payment scheme" for the source-code
version of GEMPACK are advised to download a free upgrade -- they should email sales@gempack.com
(specifying their licence number) for further details.