GCLC

GCLC is a mathematical software for producing high-quality mathematical illustrations, for teaching mathematics, and for automated proving of geometry theorems.

GCLC has been developed, with some idle years, since 1995. Its first release was made public in 1996. There were several substantial code revisions. The original version was written in pure C, and over time it turned into C++ (while some C remains are still there).

The application was open-sourced in 2020, 25 years after its very first version. In 2024, GCLC got ported to the web.

GCLC has a command line and a graphical (GUI) version. The standalone graphical version is based on the Qt framework, while the web graphical version is custom-built.

GCLC source code is available on the GitHub. Executables for Windows and Linux are available on the GCLC web page and Github Release page.

Input

GCLC accepts files in GC (Geometry Constructions) language, but can also import JavaView files.

Output

GCLC processes GCL files and can export generated illustrations in several formats: simple LaTeX, LaTeX TikZ, LaTeX PSTricks, EPS, SVG and XML (textual specification).

Proofs by the automated theorem provers are generated in a LaTeX form.

Usage with command line

gclc FILE [-b] [-a|-w|-g] [-d] [-pic|-tikz|-pst|-eps|-svg|-xml] [-help] [-version]

• FILE the name of the input file
• -b enables batch mode
• -a selects the theorem prover based on the area method
• -w selects the theorem prover based on Wu's method
• -g selects the theorem prover based on the Gröbner bases method
• -d enables deduction control
• -pic selects the simple LaTeX format for the output; this is the default value for output format
• -tikz selects the LaTeX TikZ format for the output
• -pst selects the LaTeX PStrics format
• -eps selects EPS format for the output
• -svg selects SVG format for the output
• -xml selects XML for the output
• -help list command line options and explanations
• -version print GCLC version and exit

For more information see manual.

Executables

You can download releases from the Release page.

Currently, there are four builds provided:

• linux.dynamic.zip - Linux version, dynamically linked to the Qt libraries
• linux.static.zip - Linux version with statically linked Qt libraries
• windows.zip - Windows version with statically linked Qt libraries
• web.zip - web version with all assets required

The Linux and Windows releases contain the command line and GUI executables, as well as a documentation, samples, and packages for LaTeX support.

The Linux version that uses dynamic linking is smaller in size, but requires dynamic Qt libraries to be available on the system.

Executables also can be built from the available source code following the instructions provided below.

Web version

Since 2024, GCLC can be run inside a web browser. GCLC web version works thanks to the Emscripten compiler which can compile C/C++ code to a WASM binary. WASM then can be run inside any major browser.

The web graphical interface mimics the Qt graphical interface, but it is independent of it. The web interface is written from scratch in Typescript. This graphical interface communicates with the console version of GCLC compiled to WASM. However, the web interface leans heavily on Codemirror for code input and code completion.

Typescript code is available in the 'gclcWeb/' directory. File 'source/wGCLCmain.cpp' is the main file for the WASM build.

The web interface currently doesn't support export to raster formats, import from JavaView, free points, watch window, animation_frames and trace commands.

Building from source code

GCLC is written in the C++ programming language, so a C++ compiler is needed.

GCLC with the graphical user interface uses Qt libraries, so building from source code requires Qt Library version 6.2 or higher.

In the following, it is assumed that cmake is available.

Building the command line version

Inside the project root directory run:

cmake -B build -S .
cmake --build build --target gclc

The executable gclc will be created in the folder 'build'.

Building the GUI version

For the GUI version you will have to have Qt >=6.2 available on your system.

Inside the project root directory run:

cmake -B build -S .
cmake --build build

The executable gclc-gui will be created in the folder 'build/source'.

The executables gclc and gclc-gui will be stored into the directory 'executable/' by running:

cmake --build build --target install

Using QTCreator

You can also load 'CMakeLists.txt' in QtCreator and build project from there.

Building the web version

The web version is build in two steps:

1. Compiling the GCLC to a WASM file. This step is done via Emscripten
2. Compiling the Typescript code This step is done via npm (using Vite).

First, you will need to setup locally npm and emcc. Once you have emcc available, in the project root directory configure project with emcmake provided by Emscripten, and compile it:

emcmake cmake -B build -S gclcWeb
cmake --build build

This step produces 'gclc.wasm' and 'gclc.js' inside 'build/'. Copy those two files to the 'src' directory:

cp build/gclc.js build/gclc.wasm gclcWeb/src/

This concludes the first step. Now you have to install npm dependencies (only need to be done the first time). Inside 'gclcWeb/' run:

npm install

After that, run

npm run build

Whole website will be generated inside 'gclcWeb/dist' directory. You can publish whole directory to the public server.

Editor grammar

Code editor is based on Codemirror library. Parser for editor is generated from 'gclcWeb/gclcLanguage/gclc.grammar' file with lezer-generator:

npx lezer-generator gclc.grammar -o lang.js

Development server

While developing, you can start a development server with npm run dev. Dev server reloads when one of ts (js) files is changed. Changes to .wasm and .grammar files are not tracked.

License

This software is licensed under the MIT License.