Almost 9 years ago as an intern as NASA Ames, I wrote a Common Lisp program that used REDUCE (written in some other dialiect of Lisp) to make algebraic manipulations; it called LinPACK (Fortran) to solve linear equations; it also generated and compiled Fortran code to interface with ODEPack and CMLIB.
The numerical libraries are very robust and highly optimized. Some of them are individually optimized for each architecture: processor, cache size, etc. Matlab is based on public domain code. Mathematica and Maple always have problems mainly because hard math problems for people are even harder for computers.
In general, packaged commercial programs are good for scripting and experimenting with small problems. But when you are ready to attempt a very large problem, you will have to use and even hack LAPACK, etc. to suit your needs.
Every piece of software has its limitations. The real gotcha is that if you don't understand the math, the algorithms and the math co-procesor, you won't be able to determine the correct program to use and the accuracy of the results that you get.
I filed my get-rich-fast patent application last year while I was in between jobs. I am still waiting. I too debated between hiring a lawyer and doing it myself. I ended up doing it myself. Here was my logic.
First of all, I did a quick search (about 2 weeks) and did find similar inventions. So I used them as my templates. I read and followed "Patent it Youself" because my brother previously had successfully gotten a patent by following it.
Secondly, my invention could only succeed with the partnership (more like conspiracy) of several large corporations. So my goal was to license the patent. The idea that one patent attorney could protect me from the army of IP lawyers at several companies just didn't make much sense to me.
So I thought the best thing I could do was to get large corporations to fight each other. As I saw it, if my invention was not worth fighting over, then it would never create a monopoly, and never sell. It would be fun just to watch big guys fighting over my invention. Maybe I would become famous.
The bottom line was, if I couldn't get one big guy on my side, I would get nothing anyway. So at the end, I just filed the patent myself. I thought a framed patent would look nice on my wall. And I could afford the $350 filing fee.
Slashdot Mirror
This is nothing new.
/.
All virus scanners read all your email. If Symantec wanted to, it could make its virus scanner post all your private emails to
Not Microsoft's fault. Not Linux's fault. Not Google's fault. Just clueless media and its readers.
Almost 9 years ago as an intern as NASA Ames, I wrote a Common Lisp program that used REDUCE (written in some other dialiect of Lisp) to make algebraic manipulations; it called LinPACK (Fortran) to solve linear equations; it also generated and compiled Fortran code to interface with ODEPack and CMLIB. The numerical libraries are very robust and highly optimized. Some of them are individually optimized for each architecture: processor, cache size, etc. Matlab is based on public domain code. Mathematica and Maple always have problems mainly because hard math problems for people are even harder for computers. In general, packaged commercial programs are good for scripting and experimenting with small problems. But when you are ready to attempt a very large problem, you will have to use and even hack LAPACK, etc. to suit your needs. Every piece of software has its limitations. The real gotcha is that if you don't understand the math, the algorithms and the math co-procesor, you won't be able to determine the correct program to use and the accuracy of the results that you get.
I filed my get-rich-fast patent application last year while I was in between jobs. I am still waiting. I too debated between hiring a lawyer and doing it myself. I ended up doing it myself. Here was my logic.
First of all, I did a quick search (about 2 weeks) and did find similar inventions. So I used them as my templates. I read and followed "Patent it Youself" because my brother previously had successfully gotten a patent by following it.
Secondly, my invention could only succeed with the partnership (more like conspiracy) of several large corporations. So my goal was to license the patent. The idea that one patent attorney could protect me from the army of IP lawyers at several companies just didn't make much sense to me.
So I thought the best thing I could do was to get large corporations to fight each other. As I saw it, if my invention was not worth fighting over, then it would never create a monopoly, and never sell. It would be fun just to watch big guys fighting over my invention. Maybe I would become famous.
The bottom line was, if I couldn't get one big guy on my side, I would get nothing anyway. So at the end, I just filed the patent myself. I thought a framed patent would look nice on my wall. And I could afford the $350 filing fee.