Tutorial: Running an ADMB program
Obtaining the files
Download the files for the appropriate operating system (linux or DOS) from the "ADMB files" bar.
After having unpacked the files (with winzip for the DOS version and gunzip/tar for the linux version)
you should have the following files:
- The executable file itself, called program in this tutorial (program.exe under DOS).
- A .dat file containing data. If your executable is called program,
the name of this file will be program.dat
- A .pin file containing initial values for the optimization.
If your executable is called program, the name of this file will be program.pin
Invoking the program
When the name of the executable is program, the command is:
./program
under linux, and
.\program
in a DOS window. Remember to substitute your program name for program.
Command line options
An ADMB executable accepts commmand line options. You may for instance use -est to prevent the computation of the
Hessian matrix at the end of the optimization process:
.\program -est
For large applications, it may be necessary to allocate extra memory. When you see that large temporary
files are being generated in the directory where you run the executable, you must use one (or more) of the following options:
| Temporary file |
Option |
Typical value of N |
| f1b2list1 |
-l1 N |
10000000 |
| f1b2list12 |
-l2 N |
10000000 |
| f1b2list13 |
-l3 N |
10000000 |
| nf1b2list1 |
-nl1 N |
10000000 |
| nf1b2list12 |
-nl2 N |
10000000 |
| nf1b2list13 |
-nl3 N |
10000000 |
.\program -est -l1 1000000 -l2 1000000 -l3 1000000 -nl1 1000000
Results
The results are found in a file called program.par (in this case). Standard deviations of parameter estimates
are given in program.std (when the option -est is not used).
My program crashes without any further message. Why?
Probably your computer has too little memory for this application. Try to reduce the numbers in
-l1 1000000 -l2 1000000 -l3 1000000 -nl1 1000000