Hi Price,
I see Maxima as the wave of the future.
1. It is free and will always be free. You can download as many copies
as you want, so you don't have to get an expensive separate license for
your office desktop, your laptop, and your home desktop (for example).
You don't have to pay anoth big lump of cash every couple of years
to renew the licenses every time Mathematica makes a major change.
And if one of your computer motherboards die, you don't have to
again pay out for a new license.
2. My experience with Mathematica ended with version 4.something, which I
have on a separate desktop (remember, I can't move it without paying the
piper!). As a retired professor who has moved out of the geographical
area of his former university, thus making it harder to finagle in some
way
access to the campus license for mathematica for my home desktop, I
would have to pay a hefty sum to get a license for one machine at home.
(When I originally inquired, they wanted $1300. Several years later they
started sending me "deals" at $700 or so. But once you climb on board
the mathematica bandwagon, you will likely be paying regularly for the
duration.)
2. I don't like the mathematica notebook concept. When I download a
potentially
interesting mathematica notebook, the most I can do with it is stare at
the outline
with the free reader. It won't work with my old version 4. And if I look
at
the text file code in the *.nb file, it is hard to get anything useful
out of it.
I much prefer Maxima code files which are text files which are readable
and not encased in a casket of frufru "presentation graphics".
As long as Maxima has the convenient XMaxima interface (and why should it
every go away?) serious Maxima code files will be both readable and
runnable ( of course bear in mind gradual syntax changes).
I am presently writing chapters 12 and 13 of Maxima by Example, the first
being examples of the use of explicit Dirac matrices in particle physics
calculations , the second being examples of use of a symbolic Dirac
algebra package, with comparisons (including timing trials) with the
use of explicit Dirac matrix methods. (As you would expect, so far
it is much faster to use explicit Dirac matrix methods.) The important
point here is that the code files are written in Maxima code (not Lisp),
and this will make it easier for Maxima users in high energy physics
to adapt and extend the code for their own research purposes.
This easy access to code, as will as the more natural syntax of Maxima
(as compared with Mathematica) is an important advantage of Maxima,
as well as the easy translation to Lisp (and compile as well) if this will
speed up a particular section of work.
3. Another important advantage of Maxima is its transparency. There
are no black box routines which will defy your attempt to understand
why your program is giving the wrong answers. All the underlying
source code for the core instructions come with every copy
of Maxima. You can pursue what is going wrong right to the ultimate
cause (something you cannot do with proprietary "for profit" code
like Maxima). Sure, you might have to learn a little Lisp code
eventually to track down the problem, but the Maxima developers
available via the mailing list cheerfully offer expert advice on
any serious question or hint of a bug in the core code.
4. Maxima is steadily improving. At present major improvements in the
use of complex numbers and special functions are being incorporated,
thanks to the tireless work of ambitious volunteers. As the boomer
generation begins the "great retirement" and pursues "encore careers",
I expect many more smart volunteers will be available to add more
and better features to the Maxima core and "third party" codes.
Best Wishes,
Ted Woollett
=======================
----- Original Message -----
From: "Price Kagey, PhD" <pricek at surfaceoptics.com>
To: <woollett at charter.net>
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 9:57 AM
Subject: Maxima Notes
> Dr Woolett:
>
> You have put together a very nice set of user notes on Maxima. I have
> been using a "Home Edition" of Mathematica 7 for non-work related
> experimenting and find that after partially mastering the slightly bizarre
> syntax it is a nice tool. For professional use it is quite pricey; >
> $2800 by the time CA taxes are added. Multiple user licenses are still
> out of reach for smaller companies such as the one I work for.
>
> Maxima seems much more powerful than it was some versions back. Where do
> you see it going? How do you feel that Maxima compares to Mathematica 6
> or 7 with respect to symbolics and numerical solution of integrals and
> DE's ?
> my regards
>
> Price K.
>
> --
>
>
> H Price Kagey, PhD
>
> Surface Optics Corporation (SOC)
> 11555 rancho Bernardo road
> San Diego, CA 92127-1441
>
> www.surfaceoptics.com
>
> 858-675-7404, X-104 (Office)
> 858-248-2754 (cell)
>
>