Slashdot Mirror
Open Source Computer Algebra Systems
timdaly writes "A while back Slashdot had an article decrying
the lack of a good open source computer algebra
system. That is changing. There is a
conference scheduled for the end of May to define the development model and strategy for future work. Students of math, science and engineering will find this valuable. If you're tired of hacking open source editors and want something with a real technical challenge this is the area for you."
After working on GAP for two years and talking with people banging on related programs like Magma, I'm not sure if any of that is possible. Mathematicians seem rabidly tied down to their interface of choice. It has to be the case where they absolutely cannot do what they want in their current program even with 10 years of work before they think of switching. One guy would do pencil and paper calculations (2 days+) rather then using a second program for a missing feature. Test suites are nice but how much overlap is their really between these programs? Many of the GAP tests beyond basic arithmetic are testing the features unique to GAP. I can't sit down at another program and expect any of them to be meaningful let alone work.
We plan to write a compiler for a new computer algebra system called mathemagix. We are searching potential contributors or people who would just like to give us some useful suggestions; the development is still in a very early stage due to my work on TeXmacs.