Not Everything Should Be a Direct Translation

Like learning another language, not everything in OpenSees, and programming in general, is a direct translation from textbooks. Your mother tongue could be $latex {\bf x} = {\bf A}^{-1}{\bf b}$, but you should never invert the matrix then multiply. Instead, call an equation solver. For small matrices in OpenSees, use A.Solve(b, x) from the Matrix … Continue reading Not Everything Should Be a Direct Translation →

Don’t Invert the Matrix

A common issue with linear algebra textbooks is the depiction of $latex {\bf x}={\bf A}^{-1}{\bf b}$ as the solution to the linear system of equations $latex {\bf A}{\bf x}={\bf b}$. Find the inverse of the matrix $latex {\bf A}$, then multiply that inverse with the right-hand side vector, $latex {\bf b}$. Theoretically correct? Yes. Practical? … Continue reading Don’t Invert the Matrix →

Un-MATLAB Your OpenSees

Many people develop their OpenSees elements and materials in MATLAB, then port to C++. To support this transition, OpenSees implements easy matrix-vector algebra by overloading the +, -, *, and ^ operators for the Matrix and Vector classes. The overloaded operators are self-explanatory, except for ^, which is "transpose times" or inner product. C = … Continue reading Un-MATLAB Your OpenSees →

Only Their Mother Can Tell Them Apart

In January 1999, when OpenSees was known as G3, Prof. Fenves created G2 for teaching nonlinear structural analysis in CE 221 at UC Berkeley. G2 was written in MATLAB with an architecture similar to G3. I took CE 221 and used G2 for the homework assignments, but after a few years I lost the code. … Continue reading Only Their Mother Can Tell Them Apart →