Mercurial > hg > sv-dependency-builds
diff src/fftw-3.3.8/doc/intro.texi @ 167:bd3cc4d1df30
Add FFTW 3.3.8 source, and a Linux build
author | Chris Cannam <cannam@all-day-breakfast.com> |
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date | Tue, 19 Nov 2019 14:52:55 +0000 |
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--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/src/fftw-3.3.8/doc/intro.texi Tue Nov 19 14:52:55 2019 +0000 @@ -0,0 +1,165 @@ +@node Introduction, Tutorial, Top, Top +@chapter Introduction +This manual documents version @value{VERSION} of FFTW, the +@emph{Fastest Fourier Transform in the West}. FFTW is a comprehensive +collection of fast C routines for computing the discrete Fourier +transform (DFT) and various special cases thereof. +@cindex discrete Fourier transform +@cindex DFT +@itemize @bullet +@item FFTW computes the DFT of complex data, real data, even- + or odd-symmetric real data (these symmetric transforms are usually + known as the discrete cosine or sine transform, respectively), and the + discrete Hartley transform (DHT) of real data. + +@item The input data can have arbitrary length. + FFTW employs @Onlogn{} algorithms for all lengths, including + prime numbers. + +@item FFTW supports arbitrary multi-dimensional data. + +@item FFTW supports the SSE, SSE2, AVX, AVX2, AVX512, KCVI, Altivec, VSX, and + NEON vector instruction sets. + +@item FFTW includes parallel (multi-threaded) transforms + for shared-memory systems. +@item Starting with version 3.3, FFTW includes distributed-memory parallel + transforms using MPI. +@end itemize + +We assume herein that you are familiar with the properties and uses of +the DFT that are relevant to your application. Otherwise, see +e.g. @cite{The Fast Fourier Transform and Its Applications} by E. O. Brigham +(Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1988). +@uref{http://www.fftw.org, Our web page} also has links to FFT-related +information online. +@cindex FFTW + +@c TODO: revise. We don't need to brag any longer +@c +@c FFTW is usually faster (and sometimes much faster) than all other +@c freely-available Fourier transform programs found on the Net. It is +@c competitive with (and often faster than) the FFT codes in Sun's +@c Performance Library, IBM's ESSL library, HP's CXML library, and +@c Intel's MKL library, which are targeted at specific machines. +@c Moreover, FFTW's performance is @emph{portable}. Indeed, FFTW is +@c unique in that it automatically adapts itself to your machine, your +@c cache, the size of your memory, your number of registers, and all the +@c other factors that normally make it impossible to optimize a program +@c for more than one machine. An extensive comparison of FFTW's +@c performance with that of other Fourier transform codes has been made, +@c and the results are available on the Web at +@c @uref{http://fftw.org/benchfft, the benchFFT home page}. +@c @cindex benchmark +@c @fpindex benchfft + +In order to use FFTW effectively, you need to learn one basic concept +of FFTW's internal structure: FFTW does not use a fixed algorithm for +computing the transform, but instead it adapts the DFT algorithm to +details of the underlying hardware in order to maximize performance. +Hence, the computation of the transform is split into two phases. +First, FFTW's @dfn{planner} ``learns'' the fastest way to compute the +transform on your machine. The planner +@cindex planner +produces a data structure called a @dfn{plan} that contains this +@cindex plan +information. Subsequently, the plan is @dfn{executed} +@cindex execute +to transform the array of input data as dictated by the plan. The +plan can be reused as many times as needed. In typical +high-performance applications, many transforms of the same size are +computed and, consequently, a relatively expensive initialization of +this sort is acceptable. On the other hand, if you need a single +transform of a given size, the one-time cost of the planner becomes +significant. For this case, FFTW provides fast planners based on +heuristics or on previously computed plans. + +FFTW supports transforms of data with arbitrary length, rank, +multiplicity, and a general memory layout. In simple cases, however, +this generality may be unnecessary and confusing. Consequently, we +organized the interface to FFTW into three levels of increasing +generality. +@itemize @bullet +@item The @dfn{basic interface} computes a single + transform of contiguous data. +@item The @dfn{advanced interface} computes transforms + of multiple or strided arrays. +@item The @dfn{guru interface} supports the most general data + layouts, multiplicities, and strides. +@end itemize +We expect that most users will be best served by the basic interface, +whereas the guru interface requires careful attention to the +documentation to avoid problems. +@cindex basic interface +@cindex advanced interface +@cindex guru interface + + +Besides the automatic performance adaptation performed by the planner, +it is also possible for advanced users to customize FFTW manually. For +example, if code space is a concern, we provide a tool that links only +the subset of FFTW needed by your application. Conversely, you may need +to extend FFTW because the standard distribution is not sufficient for +your needs. For example, the standard FFTW distribution works most +efficiently for arrays whose size can be factored into small primes +(@math{2}, @math{3}, @math{5}, and @math{7}), and otherwise it uses a +slower general-purpose routine. If you need efficient transforms of +other sizes, you can use FFTW's code generator, which produces fast C +programs (``codelets'') for any particular array size you may care +about. +@cindex code generator +@cindex codelet +For example, if you need transforms of size +@ifinfo +@math{513 = 19 x 3^3}, +@end ifinfo +@tex +$513 = 19 \cdot 3^3$, +@end tex +@html +513 = 19*3<sup>3</sup>, +@end html +you can customize FFTW to support the factor @math{19} efficiently. + +For more information regarding FFTW, see the paper, ``The Design and +Implementation of FFTW3,'' by M. Frigo and S. G. Johnson, which was an +invited paper in @cite{Proc. IEEE} @b{93} (2), p. 216 (2005). The +code generator is described in the paper ``A fast Fourier transform +compiler'', +@cindex compiler +by M. Frigo, in the @cite{Proceedings of the 1999 ACM SIGPLAN Conference +on Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI), Atlanta, +Georgia, May 1999}. These papers, along with the latest version of +FFTW, the FAQ, benchmarks, and other links, are available at +@uref{http://www.fftw.org, the FFTW home page}. + +The current version of FFTW incorporates many good ideas from the past +thirty years of FFT literature. In one way or another, FFTW uses the +Cooley-Tukey algorithm, the prime factor algorithm, Rader's algorithm +for prime sizes, and a split-radix algorithm (with a +``conjugate-pair'' variation pointed out to us by Dan Bernstein). +FFTW's code generator also produces new algorithms that we do not +completely understand. +@cindex algorithm +The reader is referred to the cited papers for the appropriate +references. + +The rest of this manual is organized as follows. We first discuss the +sequential (single-processor) implementation. We start by describing +the basic interface/features of FFTW in @ref{Tutorial}. +Next, @ref{Other Important Topics} discusses data alignment +(@pxref{SIMD alignment and fftw_malloc}), +the storage scheme of multi-dimensional arrays +(@pxref{Multi-dimensional Array Format}), and FFTW's mechanism for +storing plans on disk (@pxref{Words of Wisdom-Saving Plans}). Next, +@ref{FFTW Reference} provides comprehensive documentation of all +FFTW's features. Parallel transforms are discussed in their own +chapters: @ref{Multi-threaded FFTW} and @ref{Distributed-memory FFTW +with MPI}. Fortran programmers can also use FFTW, as described in +@ref{Calling FFTW from Legacy Fortran} and @ref{Calling FFTW from +Modern Fortran}. @ref{Installation and Customization} explains how to +install FFTW in your computer system and how to adapt FFTW to your +needs. License and copyright information is given in @ref{License and +Copyright}. Finally, we thank all the people who helped us in +@ref{Acknowledgments}. +