status of gamalg



 The source code for Maxima probably included (some of?)
gamalg only by carelessness or failure to remove unlicensed
code by some recipients.  I think
it was first distributed to VAX test sites in the 1979-1982
time frame, before Wolfram made his request to withdraw
the code.

I think that if FeynCalc is exactly the specification
you want, that is useful information: it could be
possible to replicate it in Maxima. I don't know how
many people know both Mathematica and Maxima, but
you are clearly one of them!

(Doesn't Steven Christensen sell a package for this
purpose, to use with Mathematica? Would it be better
to use MathTensor as a specification?)

RJF


Fedor Bezrukov wrote:

>On Mon, 2004-05-03 at 22:33, Richard Fateman wrote:
>  
>
>> I assume you realize that this code was written in 1979
>>by Stephen Wolfram and Anthony Terrano.
>>    
>>
>
>That I noticed, of course. :)
>
>  
>
>>Wolfram requested, many years ago, that the Macsyma people
>>stop using it, distributing it, etc.
>>    
>>
>
>Hmm...  And this is unknown.  At least some gamalg files (as I mentioned
>-- compiled to lisp code), as well as gam.usg, is still distributed with
>Maxima.  So probably it is a good idea to delete it from the
>distribution, for not to mislead people.
>
>  
>
>>If you found the real source code for Gamalg, you should consider
>>that it might not be open-source etc.
>>    
>>
>
>I would be glad to find it :):):):)
>
>  
>
>>I suggest that if you want to work with Dirac matrices you
>>look carefully at what is available in other programs, and
>>if you want to use Maxima, specify what exactly you need in
>>terms of facilities:  syntax, semantics, efficiency. Write
>>your programs to use these commands you have made up.
>>    
>>
>
>I know, and I am using FeynCalc in fact, though there are some issues
>that makes it a bit inconvenient (specifically the fact that Mathematica
>is not free).  But writing the whole package from scratch is something
>that I am a bit lazy to do.
>
>Fedor Bezrukov
>
>
>  
>