Differences between Maxima and Macsyma and GPL vs. commercial version

seberino@spawar.navy.mil wrote:
> Richard
> 
> Thanks for info.
> 
> (1) You mentioned Matlab.... is Maxima deficient in any
>     Matlab like functionality as compared to commercial 
>     version?  I assume you know of the Matlab clone
>     called Octave that is GPL'd?  I presume any deficiencies
>     could be fixed by just using Octave code?

I believe the Macsyma Inc people rewrote Matlab functionality
in Lisp.  If you want to use Octave using a foreign function
interface from lisp, you have to do some work on the front end,
anyway.  It might be of use to some people.

> 
> (2) Is the Common LISP code of Maxima well written, commented
>     and easy to maintain? 
Generally no.

  In short, is the GPL'd code on
>     a firm enough foundation that it is easy for other people to
>     learn it, improve on it and keep it evolving along side the
>     commercial competitors?

"other people" are improving and evolving it.  Some code dates back
to 1968 or earlier, when programming style was quite different. A
naive programmer would likely have difficulty.


> 
> 
> Chris
> 
> 
>