Updates for RP Software

All of our software products contain a powerful script interpreter. Recently, various new functions have been implemented, which can be very convenient in various situations:

• The functions read_file_content() and write_file_content() allow one to read the entire content of a file into a string variable, and to write the content of a string to a file. Although there were already a couple of functions for reading and writing files, it can be convenient to do such operations with a single function call.

• Various new functions support the use of so-called regular expressions. These are essentially search patterns for text, but are much more versatile than the search & replace functionality of most text editors.

With these new functions, you could do amazing things. For example, you could load an html file, grab all URLs from relative links to internal pages, convert these into absolute URLs by adding a base address, and write the result into a new file. (And this is by far not the most sophisticated thing you could do!) Although you may not have purchased our software for such purposes, you can imagine how helpful such functions are e.g. when you need to digest some data files with awkward formats from external sources. If you got that kick, you may indeed start using our software for purposes which have nothing to do with photonics …

Unfortunately, bugs are hardly avoidable in any non-trivial software. I have just fixed some (only recently introduced) bug which could occur in the context of ultrashort pulse propagation (and caused a “range check error”). Also, a rarely occurring convergence problem in continuous-wave simulations and various other small issues have been fixed, and various small improvements have been introduced. For example, the computation speed of ultrashort pulse simulation has been somewhat increased.

Therefore, I suggest that all users of RP Fiber Power, except for those who got it within the last few weeks, order an update (see below). Of course, if you don't use the software heavily at the moment, it may make sense to do that somewhat later.

All users are entitled to free updates to the software version they purchased. If you want such an update, just send us an e-mail. Please understand that we do not spread updates to all customers without being requested, unless there is a serious issue (e.g., wrong results of calculations) which needs to be fixed immediately.

When a major new version comes out, which is more expensive, users of previous versions get an upgrade offer. The pricing is such that overall you pay only little more than if you had waited with your purchase until the latest version is available.

If you reject an upgrade offer, you can still have the updates for your older version. Note that your updated version will then contain the documentation and possibly some user interface elements according to the latest version, only that the new functions do not actually work. This may be convenient if you need more details before deciding for an upgrade.

When you get an update (or upgrade), you get a download link just as you got when you first purchased the software. You just install the new version over the old one. A new activation will not be required. So it shouldn't take you much time.