Well, I wrote up this questionnaire, but I'm hesitating now - I'm not
sure if its useful, because I think we know most of the answers/opinions
anyway... If you think its good, please go ahead. Also, you might want to
add your own questions - with answers at the end...
Please fill out this questionnaire by using the "reply" functionality of
your mail reader, leaving all the original comments in place (but, if
possible, do not add ">" or "*" or the like...)
Please try to be concise! (eg: Do not write "good user interface", but
also write what type of user interface you are using and why its good)
If you agree with somebody, just add your name (*or* three stars) and
don't copy everything...
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What do you use maxima for at the moment: (eg: pure math research,
physics research, math/physics courses, hacking, ...)
hacking (martin)
recover lisp-knowledge (wolfgang_z)
physics/astrophysics research (valerij,felix,wolfgang_z)
teaching mathematics (andreas)
testing if maxima is a replacement for Mathematica yet(singh)
engineering wrok(osman)
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What are Maxima's main benefits *now* (regarding other CAS):
(eg: price, interface, math functionality, lisp, ...)
lisp (martin,wolfgang_z)
price(valerij,andreas,singh,wolfgang_z,osman)
math functionality(valerij,felix,wolfgang_z)
freedom as in speech (andreas,felix,valerij,singh,wolfgang_z,osman)
Availability of the source => Critical bugs can be fixed by users and
hopefully won't linger for years like e.g. in MMA.
(felix,valerij,wolfgang_z) I sure hope so, and that is an extrapolation
from using open source software (singh).
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What are the things which need fixing most badly:
(eg: math bugs, user interface, user docs, internal docs...)
math bugs (martin,valerij,felix,singh,wolfgang_z,osman)
internal docs (martin,valerij,felix,wolfgang_z)
user interface - plot menus under gnome compatible wm (andreas,singh,osman)
unicode support, or at least consistent case sensitivity (felix)