Ch Professional

Complete C interpreter and C scripting engine
Many scripting languages have claimed that their syntax resembles C or C++, but they are not C or C++. Their coding style and syntax are different from C/C++. Ch is an embeddable interpreter that provides a superset of C with salient extensions. It parses and executes C/C++ code directly without intermediate code or bytecode. It does not distinguish interpreted code from compiled C/C++ code. Ch is one of the most complete C interpreter and C scripting engines in existence. Ch is embeddable in other application programs and hardware.

Ch supports ISO C standard (C90), major new features in C99, classes in C++, POSIX, X/Motif, Windows, OpenGL, ODBC, GTK+, C LAPACK, CGI, XML, 2D/3D graphical plotting, advanced numerical computing, and shell programming. Moreover, Ch has many salient features from other languages and software packages.

C is for low-level system programming and embedded systems; C++ for large-scale projects; Ch for platform-independent script computing. C/Ch/C++ allow users to use one language, anywhere and everywhere, for any programming tasks.

If your applications need high performance, you can deploy and compile your code as native code with a C/C++ compiler. For rapid application development, fast time-to-market, and running across platform without tedious compile/link cycles, Ch will be the choice. Ch is optimal for numerical computing and visualization, embedded scripting, Web programming and plotting, safe network computing, shell programming, integration with legacy systems, integration and control of mechatronic systems, and teaching and learning.

Ch allows you to write C/C++ code once in one platform, run it in all other platforms including Windows, Linux, MacOS X, Solaris, HP-UX, FreeBSD, AIX, and QNX.

Ch makes hard things easy and easy things easier. It overcomes the shortcomings of C/C++ compilers for:

• Scripting to automate repetitive tasks and rapid prototyping
• Embedded scripting
• Scientific numerical computing
• Unix/Windows shell programming
• 2D/3D graphical plotting
• Web programming
• Safe network computing
• Interactive computing

Ch Professional Edition has the following major features:

A cross-platform C/C++ interpreter
Ch is a cross-platform C/C++ interpreter. Ch is compliant with the ISO C Standard C90, supports most features in C99 and classes in C++ . It supports many industry standards with over 8,000 C functions, including POSIX, socket/Winsock, X11/Motif, OpenGL, ODBC, C LAPACK, GTK+, Win32, XML, CGI, etc. C/C++ programs can run in Ch without compilation across different platforms including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Solaris, AIX, QNX, and HP-UX.

Interactive for rapid prototyping and learning C/C++
C/C++ expressions, statements, functions, and programs can be executed interactively in a Ch command window. It can be used for rapid prototyping. As an instructional tool, instructors can use it in a classroom quickly and intuitively for illustration and answering student questions. It lowers the barrier for learning C/C++. It helps students understand and master difficult topics in C/C++ such as data types, input/output format, pointers, structures, arrays. Students can easily learn C/C++ like learning BASIC. For example

> double f = 12.345 // declare variable f
> 2*f // calculate 2f
24.6900
> printf("%8.2lf", f)// field with 8, precision 2
12.35
> double *p // declare variable p
> p = &f // p points to f
00AC81A0 // the address of f
> *p // the value pointed by p
12.3450
> p[0] // treat p as an array
12.3450

As another example, after the random number generator is seeded with a time value in srand(time(NULL). the function rand() is called to generate two random numbers. The function add() which calls the mathematical function sqrt() is defined at the prompt and then used.

> srand(time(NULL))
> rand()
4497
> rand()
11439
> double add(double a, double b) {double c; return a+b+sqrt(2);}
> double c
> c = add(10.0, 20)
31.4142

User-friendly integrated development environment (IDE)
ChIDE is the most user-friendly IDE for beginners to learn fundamentals of computer programming in C/C++ across different platforms.

• ChIDE supports the user interface in over 30 local languages such as Japanese, German, French, and Chinese on different platforms. It has many abbreviations for quickly writing and editing C/C++ code, including a convenient header for homework assignment. It can automatically indent code with syntax highlighting.
• Extensive and user-friendly debug features. You can set breakpoints, run a program step by step, watch and change values of variables during the program execution, inspect variables in different stacks with different colors, etc. ChIDE is especially developed for teaching and learning computer programming in C/C++. For example, step-by-step execution of a function helps students understand and master difficult topics such as program logic, control flow, selection statements, loops, functions, function argument pass-by-value, pass-by-reference, local and global variables, etc.
• ChIDE is the most pedagogically effective IDE for instructors to make classroom presentations while quickly modifying programs to demonstrate different programming features and concepts, or respond to students' questions. The font size can be changed quickly for classroom presentation.
• ChIDE can be used with your favorite C/C++ compilers. It is pre-configured to work with Microsoft Visual Studio C++ compiler in Windows and GNU gcc/g++ in Unix. It is flexible and can be configured to use other compilers. You can easily switch back-and-forth between interpretive and compile/link based execution of C/C++ programs. It helps students understand how compiler works.

Very high-level shell programming and cross-platform scripting
Ch is a C compatible shell, similar to Unix and MS-DOS shells. Ch is a very high-level language (VHLL). Ch in Windows includes more than 250 commonly-used Unix commands such as vi, ls, awk, and sed for portable shell programming. Ch bridges the gap between the C language and shell languages. With its built-in string type and many enhanced scripting features, Ch can be used for cross-platform scripting to automate repetitive tasks, system administration, regression test, and hardware test. Ch can be used to learn Unix/Linux in a familiar Windows environment. C/C++ programs can also be compiled in a Ch comman shell.

Simple numerical computing in C/C++
Ch has built-in type-generic mathematical functions and computational arrays for linear algebra and matrix computations. It contains advanced high-level numerical functions. Complicated engineering and science problems can be solved conveniently in Ch. For example, the linear system equation b = A*x can be written verbatim in Ch.

• Scientific numerical computing with advanced high-level numerical functions for linear algebra problems based on LAPACK, differential equation solving, integration, finding roots of non-linear equations, manipulating polynomials, curve fitting, fast Fourier analysis, etc.
• Ch supports C LAPACK, GNU Scientific Library, and many other libraries, Applications written using these libraries can be executed in Ch or compiled using C compilers without any modification.
• Demos of High-level numerical analysis functions
• Demos of computational array for numerical computing

The example below shows interactive execution for arithmetic of computational arrays, transpose and inverse of matrices.

> array double a[2][3] = {1,2,3,4,5,6}, b[2][2]
> b = a*transpose(a)
14.0000 32.0000
32.0000 77.0000
> b*inverse(b)
1.0000 0.0000
0.0000 1.0000
> a = 100*a + 5
105.0000 205.0000 305.0000
405.0000 505.0000 605.0000

Simple 2D/3D graphical plotting in C/C++
Ch provides the simplest possible solution for two- and three-dimensional graphical plotting within the framework of C/C++ for rapid application development and visualization. It can be used conveniently for visualizing engineering and science problems.

• Ch contains a plotting class in C++ with over 100 member functions for conveniently creating and manipulating two- and three-dimensional plots.
• Ch has easy-to-use high-level plotting functions plotxy(), fplotxy(), plotxyf(), plotxyz(), fplotxyz(), and plotxyzf() using data from arrays, functions, and data files conveniently.
• Numerous plot types in different coordinates and shapes
• Plots can be generated for display on the screen, display inside a Web browser through a Web server, or saved in a file with a variety of different file formats, including PNG, JPEG, GIF, Postscript, LaTeX, etc.
• A displayed plot can be conveniently copied and pasted into other applications such as Word in Windows.
• Ch is compatible with SoftIntegration Graphical Library (SIGL). The plotting class and functions in Ch are supported in SIGL. The program using the plotting feature can be either run in Ch interpretively without compilation or compiled using a C++ compiler with SIGL.

Quick animation
Ch contains QuickAnimation, a program for quick animation and display of various objects. It can be used to conveniently visualize and simulate engineering and science problems. QuickAnimation is especially suitable for animation of two-dimensional mechanical systems. It can stimulate students' interest in computing and computer programming.

Ch SDK for interfacing with binary C/C++ libraries
Ch SDK can easily integrate the existing C/C++ libraries as Ch scripting libraries. Functions and classes in static or dynamical libraries can be invoked in a Ch script file or Ch command shell. Ch SDK requires neither any modification of your C/C++ source code and libraries, nor re-compilation of your applications and libraries. It enables you to have a powerful C/C++ interpreter to control your systems and applications across different platforms. Your binary modules can readily be executed interpretively and shared with other users with Ch SDK. It creates a greater benefit for code reuse.

A rich set of toolkits and packages
Ch supports an increasing number of C/C++ libraries and third party software packages, as well as toolkits and packages developed using Ch with advanced numerical, graphical, and animation capabilities such as Ch Control System Toolkit and Ch Mechanism Toolkit.