In this paper, we develop, analyze and test the Fourier spectral
methods for solving the Degasperis-Procesi(DP) equation which contains nonlinear
high order derivatives, and possibly discontinuous or sharp transition solutions.
The $L^2$ stability is obtained for general numerical solutions of the Fourier Galerkin method and Fourier collocation (pseudospectral) method.By applying the Gegenbauer reconstruction technique as a post-processing method to the
Fourier spectral solution, we reduce the oscillations arising from the discontinuity successfully.
The numerical simulation results for different types of solutions of the nonlinear Degasperis-Procesi equation are provided
to illustrate the accuracy and capability of the methods.