Briefly, the primary aim of the project Strengthening Computation in Undergraduate Physics Programs is to produce flexible text materials that can be easily tailored for use in programs using a variety of different hardware platforms and software packages. To reflect the availability of a wide variety of software packages, this book can be assembled only after the user stipulates which of the available components (IDL, MATLAB, OCTAVE, PYTHON, MAXIMA, MAPLE, Mathematica, Programming, FORTRAN, C, Numerical Recipes, LSODE, MUDPACK, LaTeX, and TGIF) are to be included. With 15 components, each of which can be included or not, there are technically 2¹⁵ = 32,768 versions, though the vast majority of those versions makes no sense. Most commonly a version containing one numeric and graphical tool (IDL, MATLAB, OCTAVE, or PYTHON) and one computer algebra system (MAXIMA, MAPLE, or Mathematica) with Programming, FORTRAN and/or C (with Numerical Recipes), and LaTeX will be specified. Within that spectrum, only 36 different versions survive.

Unfortunately, the level of customization involved poses severe problems for the publishing systems of commercial publishers. Prior to making CPSUP available for direct download, the author had endeavored to self-publish this book by receiving orders for customized assemblages of the materials, producing the required number of bound copies, and shipping them to the end user. As he has approached actual (as opposed to nominal) retirement, he has decided to provide these materials for direct download to anyone who wishes them.

A more detailed description of the history of this project and of the structure of CPSUP is contained in the 142 KB-PDF document Description of the Second Edition of CPSUP.

The front matter in all assemblages of CPSUP contains

1. the Preface,
2. Acknowledgements,
3. a Disclaimer in which the tested platform and tested versions of the software packages are identified, and
4. the Table of Contents.

The first two items are the same in all assemblages of CPSUP. The third and fourth items in each version contain only those items relevant to the components of that assemblage. The two files below provide the Preface and the full Table of Contents. To examine the remaining items, visit the Download section, download whichever assemblage is of interest to you, and open the file to examine the first several pages.

The Table of Contents below includes all chapters and all sections within chapters. If only a subset of components is included in a particular assemblage, the chapters, sections and the occasional exercises related to omitted components will be omitted from the assemblage and also from the Table of Contents. Since chapter numbers, section numbers, subsection, and exercise numbers are preserved, there will then be gaps in those enumerations. Page numbers will, however, run continuously through each assemblage and equation, table, and figure numbers will run continuously through each chapter. References to different versions should be limited to chapter, section, and subsection numbers. References to pages, tables, equations, and figures will not translate accurately among assemblages.

Each link in the following table will access the indicated version of CPSUP, either for viewing on a computer screen or downloading to your local storage. The linked and print versions are textually identical. In the linked versions, each internal reference (including those in the Table of Contents and Index) is hot-linked to the item to which the reference points. The print version contains no hot-links. The print versions are the better ones to download if you wish to print some or all of the version. The linked versions are better for viewing on the screen. All files are in PDF format.

Clicking on the PDF icon next to an item brings up a box in which you can select to open the file in an appropriate reader or to download the file.  The cover page of each file includes the date on which the file was created.  That date is updated with each new printing, so you can tell whether a file downloaded in the past has been updated since that download.

The full version below contains all components except the (not yet ready) chapters on partial differential equations and MUDPACK. Each version labeled with two software packages contains not only the components identified in the label but also the components focusing on programming, FORTRAN (including Numerical Recipes), C (including Numerical Recipes), and LaTeX. A file containing only the LaTeX appendix and a file containing only the TGIF appendix are also provided. Other versions can certainly be constructed—and sooner or later source files and appropriate instructions for creating other versions will be added to this website.

This section provides access to all of the program and data files referred to at various points in CPSUP. When unzipped, the file with all but LSODE will create a single folder named CPSUP with subfolders named cc, data, fortran, idl, maple, mathematica, matlab, maxima, octave, python, and tex. When unzipped, the file containing only LSODE will create a single folder named CPSUP which itself contains only a subfolder named lsode.

All of these files should be placed in a single folder named CPSUP which is itself stored in a directory of your choice located at a path named $PATH>. The symbol $HEAD used throughout CPSUP is then, at your site, $PATH/CPSUP. In the Linux world at Lawrence, $PATH is /apps and the symbol $HEAD then translates to /apps/CPSUP.

This section provides links to the Local Guide used at Lawrence in the recent past as well as a link to a zipped file containing

• the source code for the Lawrence version of the Local Guide and
• a README file explaining how to use the source files to create a version appropriate for your site.

The described procedure assumes that you have a reasonably updated version of LaTeX installed in your system.

The linked and print versions are textually identical. In the linked versions, each internal reference (including those in the Table of Contents and Index) is hot-linked to the item to which the reference points. The print version contains no hot-links. The print versions are the better ones to download if you wish to print some or all of the version. The linked versions are better for viewing on the screen. All files are in PDF format.

Clicking on the icon next to an item brings up a box in which you can select either to open the file in an appropriate reader or download the file.