
\chapter{General Introduction}

\cgal, the {\em Computational Geometry Algorithms Library}, is written in 
\CC\ and consists of several parts.

The first part is about the kernels, which consist of constant-size non-modifiable 
geometric primitive objects and operations on these objects. 
The objects are represented both as stand-alone classes that are
parameterized by a representation class, which specifies
the underlying number types used for calculations and as members of the
kernel classes, which allows for more flexibility and adaptability of the 
kernel.  \cgal\ has several kernels, for 2D and 3D, for arbitrary dimensional
objects, and for 2D curved objects.

The following parts present a collection of basic geometric data structures and
algorithms, which are parameterized by traits classes that define the 
interface between the data structure or algorithm and the primitives they use.
In many cases, the kernel classes provided in \cgal\ can be used as traits
classes for these data structures and algorithms.
The collection of basic geometric algorithms and data structures
currently includes polygons, half-edge data structures, polyhedral surfaces, 
arrangements of curves, triangulations in 2D and 3D,  surface mesh
genrators, subdivision and parametrisation of suerface meshes,
Voronoi diagrams of points, disks and segments, Booelean operations on polygons and polyhedra,
convex hulls, alpha shapes, optimisation algorithms, dynamic
point sets for geometric queries,  range and segment trees, and 
kinetic data atructures.

The last part of the library consists of non-geometric support
facilities, such as support for number types, {\sc Stl} extensions for
\cgal, handles, circulators, protected access to internal
representations, geometric object generators, timers, I/O stream
operators and other stream support including PostScript, colors,
windows, and visualization tools Geomview and a Qt widget for
2D \cgal\ objects.

Additional documents accompanying the \cgal\ distribution are the
`Installation Guide' and `The Use of \stl\ and \stl\ Extensions in
\cgal', which gives a manual style introduction to \stl\ constructs
such as iterators and containers, as well an extension, called
circulator, used in many places in \cgal. We also recommend the
standard text book by Austern~\cite{cgal:a-gps-98} for the \stl\ and
its notion of \emph{concepts} and \emph{models}.


Other resources for \cgal\ are the tutorials at
\path|http://www.cgal.org/Tutorials/| and the user support page at
\path|www.cgal.org|.

\input{Introduction_ref/licenses}

\input{Introduction_ref/thirdparty}

\section{Advanced}

In this manual you will encounter sections marked as follows.

\begin{ccAdvanced}
Some functionality is considered more advanced.
Such functionality is described in sections such as this one that are bounded 
by horizontal brackets.
\end{ccAdvanced}


\section{Namespace CGAL}

All names introduced by \cgal, especially those documented in these
manuals, are in a namespace called \ccc{CGAL}, which is in global
scope. A user can either qualify names from \cgal\ by adding
\ccc{CGAL::}, e.g., \ccc{CGAL::Point_2< CGAL::Homogeneous< int> >},
make a single name from \cgal\ visible in a scope via a \ccc{using}
statement, e.g., \ccc{using CGAL::Cartesian;}, and then use this name
unqualified in this scope, or even make all names from namespace
\ccc{CGAL} visible in a scope with \ccc{using namespace CGAL;}. The
latter, however, is likely to give raise to name conflicts and is
therefore not recommended.


\section{Inclusion Order of Header Files}

Not all compilers fully support standard header names. \cgal\ provides 
workarounds for these problems in \ccc{CGAL/basic.h}. Consequently, as a 
golden rule, you should always include \ccc{CGAL/basic.h} first in your 
programs (or \ccc{CGAL/Cartesian.h}, or \ccc{CGAL/Homogeneous.h}, since they 
include \ccc{CGAL/basic.h} first).






\section{Compile-time Flags to Control Inlining}
\ccIndexMainItem{code optimization}
\ccIndexMainItem{inlining}
\ccIndexMainItem{\tt inline}

Making funcitons inlined can, at times, improve the efficiency of your code.
However this is not always the case and it can differ for a single function
depending on the application in which it is used. Thus \cgal\ defines a set 
of compile-time macros that can be used to control whether certain functions 
are designated as inlined functions or not.  The following table lists the 
macros and their default values, which are set in one of the \cgal\ include
files.  

\begin{tabular}{l|l}
               macro name        & default \\ \hline
\ccc{CGAL_KERNEL_INLINE}         & inline \\
\ccc{CGAL_KERNEL_MEDIUM_INLINE}  &  \\
\ccc{CGAL_KERNEL_LARGE_INLINE}   &  \\
\ccc{CGAL_MEDIUM_INLINE}         & inline \\
\ccc{CGAL_LARGE_INLINE}          &  \\
\ccc{CGAL_HUGE_INLINE}           & 
\end{tabular}

If you wish to change the value of one or more of these macros,
you can simply give it a new value when compiling.  For example, to make
functions that use the macro \ccc{CGAL_KERNEL_MEDIUM_INLINE} inline functions,
you should set the value of this macro to \texttt{inline} instead of the
default blank. 






\input{Introduction_ref/checks} % extra chapter
