The target audience of this book is students and researchers in computational sciences who need to develop computer codes for solving partial differential equations. The exposition is focused on numerics and software related to mathematical models in solid and fluid mechanics. The book teaches finite element methods, and basic finite difference methods from a computational point of view. The main emphasis regards development of flexible computer programs, using the numerical library Diffpack. The application of Diffpack is explained in detail for problems including model equations in applied mathematics, heat transfer, elasticity, and viscous fluid flow. Diffpack is a modern software development environment based on C++ and object-oriented programming. All the program examples, as well as a test version of Diffpack, are available for free over the Internet. The second edition contains several new applications and projects, improved explanations, correction of errors, and is up to date with Diffpack version 4.0.

To make full use of the ever increasing hardware capabilities of modern com puters, it is necessary to speedily enhance the performance and reliability of the software as well, and often without having a suitable mathematical theory readily available. In the handling of more and more complex real-life numerical problems in all sorts of applications, a modern object-oriented de sign and implementation of software tools has become a crucial component. The considerable challenges posed by the demand for efficient object-oriented software in all areas of scientific computing make it necessary to exchange ideas and experiences from as many different sources as possible. Motivated by the success of the first meeting of this kind in Norway in 1996, we decided to organize another International Workshop on Modern Software Tools for Scientific Computing, often referred to as SciTools'98. This workshop took place in Oslo, Norway, September 14-16, 1998. The ob jective was again to provide an open forum for exchange and discussion of modern, state-of-the-art software techniques applied to challenging numerical problems. The organization was undertaken jointly by the research institute SINTEF Applied Mathematics, the Departments of Mathematics and Infor matics at the University of Oslo, and the company Numerical Objects AS."