Things to do before GUI-developers can start their work

On Wed, 11 Jun 2003, C Y wrote:

> --- Martin RUBEY <rubey@labri.fr> wrote:
>  
> > BTW: I still don't understand why people want a GUI. I find it a
> > great  pleasure to work in emacs-maxima mode! Please explain.
> 
> Graphical, 2D math input is the way new/casual users work best with a
> CAS, in my experience - it limits the confusion of dealing with a new
> language and they can see input equations the way they look in the
> textbook.  

good point. But *PLEASE* human-readable notation! When I get a notebook 
from somebody (I won't write one), I want to be able to launch my emacs, 
(emacs, not texmacs) and have all the notebook stuff disappear (maybe be a 
comment or the like) 

Isn't it possible to just *display* maxima input in 2D?

---------------

> Um.  I don't think using MathML will ensure we can export and import to
> other CAS with any success.  Dr. Fateman can probably point out the
> weaknesses better than I, but I suspect MathML will mainly be useful as
> a tool to allow export of Maxima documents in a format suitable for web
> browsers.  

I think so, too.

> XML we might be able to use as a native document storage
> method, depending on how that works out, but that will all need to be
> discussed when the time comes.

Don't you like latex + hevea? 

Martin