New Features in Release 6.0 of GEMPACK

This describes features of Release 6.0 (October 1998) of GEMPACK which were not available in Release 5.2 (September 1996) of GEMPACK.

There was also a minor upgrade, Release 6.0-001 (March 1999), which included a small number of enhancements from Release 6.0.

The new features in Release 6.0 include:

• Reporting levels results at the same time as linearized ones.
• Specifying a range for coefficient values. If you use automatic accuracy, the program will ensure that these coefficients remain within the specified range.
• Improved memory management using features available under Fortran 90. Source-code users with a Fortran 90 compiler will no longer need to increase program parameters.
• Set and element information on Header Array files
  • can now be added using MODHAR.
  • can be checked when data is read by TABLO-generated programs or GEMSIM.
• Spreadsheet files of results produced by SLTOHT
  
  • now contain element names (rather than element numbers).
  • can contain tables of results in which results for different variables are in columns.
• Set unions and intersections are allowed in TABLO input files and empty sets are allowed.
• Command files have been streamlined to make it easier to follow good practice. For example, if you do not include a "solution file = ... ;" statement, the Solution file will be called the same name as the Command file; that is, if your Command file is SJLB.CMF, the Solution file will be SJLB.SL4
• The DOS command "sj -cmf sjlb.cmf -log sjlb.log" will run the TABLO-generated program SJ.EXE taking inputs from the Command file SJLB.CMF and sending output to the LOG file SJLB.LOG. Similarly "-sti" can be used to specify the name of a Stored-input file.
• There is a new Windows interface RunGEM which makes it easy to carry out simulations with any model implemented and solved using GEMPACK. In particular, this can be used to introduce users with no experience with GE models to a particular model.
  You can download RunGEM and example models for use with RunGEM.

More detail about the above features is available.

Other new features in Release 6.0 include:

• Extended syntax with intertemporal models can be used which allows indices such as "t+1" to be used in sensible circumstances in which they were not allowed in Release 5.2.
• Long names are transferred when Write statements are executed (if the long name is not specified in the TABLO Input file).
• The elements of sets can now be written out to a file by TABLO-generated programs or GEMSIM, using such statements as
  Write (SET) COM to file Hafile header "COM" ;
  Write (ALLSETS) to file SetsFile ;
  The latter writes the elements of all sets. This is especially useful if you want to add set and element information to a Header Array file using MODHAR (see earlier).
• Editing mode in ViewHAR. ViewHAR, the Windows viewer for Header Array files, has been extended by Mark Horridge to include an editing mode (which lets you change the data and/or headers on the file).
• ViewSOL, a Windows program for viewing Solution files, has been developed by Mark Horridge. ViewSOL can now be used to view Levels results if they are present on the Solution file.
• Programs RWSOL and MKSOL can be used to transfer Solution files from one machine to another one (for example, between Unix machines and windows PCs), similar to the pair of programs RWHAR and MKHAR used to transfer Header Array files. This lets Unix users transfer Solution files to Windows PCs where they can use ViewSOL to look at their results.
• Programs ACCUM and DEVIA (based on Mark Horridge's ACCUMSOL and DEVIATE) are now available for use with dynamic models (such as MONASH) which are solved several times in a year-on-year fashion to produce a base case forecast or a policy deviation from a base case. ACCUM assembles the results of the different years of these runs into a spreadsheet file while DEVIA produces a spreadsheet file which shows the differences between the policy (deviation) run and the base case.
• Statements of the form "ashock ... ;" can be used to specify additional policy shocks with dynamic models (such as MONASH).
• It is now possible to ask TABLO-generated programs and GEMSIM to check the closure and shocks. This will happen quickly, even with a large model.