I think the wxMaxima project is a good step towards a nicer interface
for new users especially. I don't know if that meets the needs of the
students mentioned. I like the idea of keeping the functionality
seperate from the interface so that shell usage is available to more
advanced users.
Ryan
On 11/22/05, Robert Dodier wrote:
> Hi Alasdair,
>
> I've taken the liberty of forwarding your message to the mailing list.
> All of these ideas sounds really good to me. It would be a
> very useful exercise to walk through this list and identify
> what is and is not already implemented. About your students,
> by all means, point them in the direction of the mailing list and
> we'll take it from there ... 8^)
>
> best,
> Robert Dodier
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Alasdair McAndrew
> Date: Nov 22, 2005 5:09 PM
> Subject: Maxima wishlist
> To: Robert Dodier
>
>
> Since you asked... here is my wish list for Maxima:
>
> 1) Good number theory package. Since Maxima uses arbitrary precision
> arithmetic, this should be accompanied by a good computational number
> theory package: modular powers, inverses, extended euclidean
> algorithm, chinese remainder theorem, factorization (using all the
> best methods, up to and including the number field sieve), discrete
> logarithms, modular square and nth roots, primitive roots.
>
> 2) Graph theory. Creating graphs (weighted, unweighted, directed,
> undirected), drawing graphs (this would require another plotting
> package to gnuplot), modifying graphs, testing for planarity, euler
> and hamiltonian paths and circuits. Minimal spanning trees, shortest
> paths, coloring and matching, flow algorithms.
>
> 3) Boolean algebra and logic. Simplification of boolean expressions,
> truth tables, satisfyability, disjuntive and conjunctive canonical
> forms, checking for tautologies and contradictions.
>
> 4) Linear Algebra. I'd like to be able to compute reduced row echelon
> form, and some matrix decompositions (LU, QR, Cholesky etc).
>
> 5) User interface. This isn't a problem for me (I switch between
> maxima, xmaxima, imaxima in emacs, maxima in TeXmacs), but it could be
> a problem for teaching. One nice modern-sh interface would be nice.
>
> 6) Help. We've discussed this before...
>
> Well, there we are! Should I gather some postgraduate students and
> tell them to get cracking with some coding?
>
> cheers,
> Alasdair
>
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