\chapter{Introduction}

\section{General information}
This documentation is divided in three parts. The learning guide where the use of the tools is illustrated through several examples (right now, only the commented examples are available in the tutorial directory). The reference guide that lists the complete set of API. The user interface reference that explains the use of the graphical user interface (GUI).\\

It is recommended to step through the examples in order to have an overview of the philosophy and the possibilities of the toolbox. The reference guide is a concatenation of the Matlab\texttrademark help available for each function. This reference is also available in html format.\\

The following features are still to be implemented:
\begin{itemize}
\item the control functionalities and the integration of the FAST toolbox.
\item the Mixture of Experts model (trained by the em algorithm).
\item A fast (we hope ten times faster) simulation of the model.
\item A faster lazy algorithm.
\item A better implementation of the parameters settings.
\end{itemize}

\section{Installation}

Before to use the tools or the GUI, the software needs to be installed. Inside Matlab\texttrademark, move to the directory {\tt identification} and type the "setup" command. The paths needed by the program will be set up automatically and the mex files will be built if the binaries are not provided. The mex files are already compiled for the linux, the macos and the solaris environment.\\

\section{Bug report}

This software is sort of alpha quality. We would be very happy to hear about
bugs you noticed. Please send a mail with the bug description (or better, a mfile that makes the bug appear) to bugs@iridia.ulb.ac.be.

\section{Help needed}

Do not hesitate to contact Antoine Duchateau (aduchate@ulb.ac.be) or Edy Bertolissi (eberto@iridia.ulb.ac.be) if you need any for the understanding or the use of the toolbox.
