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  <chapter id="intro">
  <title>
    Introduction
  </title>
  <section>
  <title>
  Welcome to CLP!
  </title>
  <para>
  The COIN  Linear Program code or CLP is an open-source simplex solver written
  in C++.  It is primarily meant to be used as a callable library, but a
  basic, stand-alone <link linkend="clpexe">executable</link> version is also
  available.
  </para>
  <para>
  There are a number of resources available to help new CLP users get started.
  This document is designed to be used in conjunction with the files in the
  Samples subdirectory of the main CLP directory (<filename>COIN/Clp/Samples</filename>).
  The Samples illustrate how to use CLP and may also serve as useful starting points
  for user projects.  In the rare event that either this document or the available
  <link linkend="doxygen">Doxygen content</link> conflicts with the observed
  behavior of the source code, the comments in the header files, found in
  <filename>COIN/Clp/include</filename>, are the ultimate reference.
  </para>
  </section>
  <section>
  <title>
  Prerequisites
  </title>
  <para>
  CLP is written in C++, so it is expected that users of CLP will be writing 
  C++ programs which use CLP as a library.  Thus a working knowledge of 
  <ulink url="http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/">C++</ulink>, including basic
  object-oriented programming terminology is assumed in this document.  In
  addition, the user should be familiar with the fundamental concepts of
  <ulink url="http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~hgreenbe/courseware/LPshort/intro.html">
  Linear Programming</ulink>.
  </para>
  </section>
  </chapter>
