ROOT User's Guide


Welcome to the ROOT User's Guide. From here you can download the preliminary version of the ROOT User's Guide. It contains 20-something chapters and 320 pages. We plan to print a hard copy edition, and appreciate comments so that we can make corrections before the printing. Note that we cannot accept requests to ship printed copies at this time.
If you would like to contribute a chapter, section, or even a paragraph, don't hesitate we would appreciate it. Send your comments to: rootdoc@root.cern.ch.

The PDF version of the ROOT User's Guide v3_1a: Users_Guide_3_1a.pdf (~ 4.9 MB) (you need Acrobat reader version 3 or 4 and set the Print option to Level 1)

The PDF version of the ROOT User's Guide v3_1a: Users_Guide_3_1a_TwoInOne.pdf (~ 4.7 MB) (same as above, but two pages in one)

The MSWord version of the ROOT User's Guide v3_1a: Users_Guide_3_1a.doc (~ 6.6 MB)

Both formats should print on letter and A4 paper size.

Version 3_1a changes (8 June 2001):

- This version has many changes, in particular in the Input/Output and Tree chapters

Version 0.7 changes (8 March 2001):

- This version has many changes, but nothing major. Most were triggered by the many comments from Jacek.
pg. 15 added note about TF1::SetNpx
pg. 19 added note about automatically finding the object by CINT
pg. 23 fixed typo
pg. 24 added a section: " Tracking Memory Leaks
pg. 35 added a description of the "Z" draw option
pg. 36 added an example of using Latex in the Axis title
pg. 43 expanded explanation of "Z" option
pg. 62 added a description of the "B" option for TH1::Fit
pg. 68/69 removed duplicate paragraph and reorganized a little
pg. 88 updated limitations for a class created in a script
pg. 92 removed "Interpreting and Compiling a Script" (see next line)
pg. 94 updated the section on "Moving between Interpreter and Compiler"
pg. 99 rewrote the paragraph on Updating the Canvas and moved it to pg. 110
pg. 101 fixed typo
pg. 105 added a paragraph to find multiple unnamed objects of the same class
pg. 108 minor rewording
pg. 112 added default 2D Graphical object coordinates.
pg. 117 updated to show the roots in graphical form
pg. 126 added a reference to where the xyslider.C script can be found
pg. 129 moved paragraph about wmin and wmax to this page.
pg. 143 fixed unintentional page break
pg. 146 fixed script name in example
pg. 149 minor rewording
pg. 150 added a paragraph on how to create text in TPostScript
pg. 154 updated the paragraph on gROOT->ForceStyle
pg. 160 expanded the table about compression level comparisons.
pg. 173 reworded for clarification
pg. 175 changed the streamer example to use kTRUE instead of 1
pg. 175 added an example of the parameters for WriteVersion()
pg. 177,178 added and reworded for clarification
pg. 180 added a description of BypassStreamer
pg. 102 moved the Using The General TFile … to end of chapter
pg. 197 rewrote advantage of using TTrees
pg. 207 added an example of a variable length array in a branch.
pg. 209 moved autosave paragraph here
pg. 210 expanded a little on maxvirtualsize parameter
pg. 212 removed the TH1F hstat from AFile.root in example
pg. 212 added hfile->Close to example
pg. 213 rewording for clarification
pg. 212 fixed unintentional page break
pg. 213 added explanation why a gPad->Update is needed in this case
pg. 221 expanded explanation of GetV and SetEstimate
pg. 224 updated reference to appendix split class
pg. 224 updated explanation of GetEntry
pg. 228 updated ACLiC + and ++ options
pg. 236 rewording for clarity
pg. 237 removed "Adding a Class with the Interpreter" since this was duplicated in the CINT chapter
pg. 238 added a fTempValue to the example
pg. 238 added an example of excluding a data member from the auto streamer
pg. 239 summarized the three pragma statement options
pg. 251 minor revisions on the Physics Vector chapter for clarification
pg. 270 fixed typo
pg. 273 updated and summarized the results of Event runs
pg. 282 fixed typo
pg. 290 fixed inconsistent name of message in example
pg. 341 added number to the quiz answers
pg. 343 fixed answer to Quiz on Root Trees (was E, should be D)

Version 0.7 changes (12 January 2001):

- index
- Added a section on Profile Histograms
- Added a chapter on Physics Vectors
- Added a paragraph on calling a static method from a thread
- Added example of setting the axis title with Latex
- Updates to fit parameter section
- Updates on Post Script sections
- Added "static data member not saved" paragraph
- Added LinkDef options
- Added the default setting and explicitly setting number of points in an TF1
- Added note about the name of a chain
- Added note about creating a TProfile with Tree::Draw
- Added note about using TCut in a TTree
- Added note about IgnoreTObjectStreamer (version 3 and up)
- Added the New I/O description for Version 3.0

Version 0.6.3 changes:

- index
- Added an example of a variable length TArrayX object in a branch
- Changed the PDF maker options to true type download
- Changed the PDF maker options to be compatible with Acrobat 3.0
- Added a paragraph about TTree::Draw using the TStyle at creation
- Expanded the index
- Added a note for uniqueness of the rootcint dictionary file name.

p>Version 0.6.2 changes:

- index
- made the version number an automatic field(document keyword)
- fixed a bug in the palette code (pg 133)
- added a section on zooming a graph
- added how to not display the statistics box for a histogram
- fixed the normalizing histogram section
- fixed kTRUE
- added bookmarks for TOC
- fixed credits (DESY->GSI)

If you have the previous version (i.e. version 0.5 from the CERN School of Computing) here is what's new:

- index
- chapter on fitting
- chapter on graphs
- section on DrawClone
- section on Reset()
- rules for splitting a tree
- section on converting HBOOK/PAW files
- section on chains
- chapter on automatic documentation


Suzanne Panacek, Last update 10/31/2000