Conrad, thanks a lot for your interest in Maxima.
I suggest that you get started by just watching the mailing list and
solving problems that people bring up. There's no requirement of a
certain level of experience, just jump right in whenever you feel you
have something useful to contribute. As you can see there are
always a lot of questions, some have obvious answers but a lot of
them don't. I think that's a good way for you to learn about Maxima.
Over time perhaps you will get some ideas about larger-scale
projects that you could work on. It's clear that you have expertise in
many topics but it's not clear how to apply that to Maxima; I think
that over time it will become clearer.
You can also trawl through the bug reports at the Sourceforge
project site, although the mailing list is perhaps more fun due to
social interaction.
I'd like to make this same suggestion to anyone else who is
interested in contributing to Maxima.
All the best,
Robert Dodier
On 11/10/11, Conrad Schiff <gravmath at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> In response to Robert's request, I'll say a little about myself.
>
> Educational background: I have a PhD in theoretical physics from the
> University of Maryland. My field of study was General Relativity with an
> emphasis on numerical modeling and the ADM decomposition. In my
> dissertation, I worked on how to model extended fluid objects, such as a
> white dwarf, in motion about massive and super-massive black holes and
> determined possible finite-size corrections to the orbital motion of these
> systems as potential gravitational wave sources.
>
> Work background: For the last 21 years or so (even while I earned my PhD),
> I've worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Flight Dynamics. I was
> the lead trajectory designer on the ACE, WMAP, and JWST missions, and
> contributed significantly to the trajectories of the Clementine and GPM
> missions. I am currently the Flight Dynamics lead for the Magnetospheric
> MultiScale mission. Much of this work has centered on the development of
> analytical and numerical models of the motion of spacecraft and the
> maneuvers needed to achieve their desired orbits. Along the way, I've
> picked up a deal of experience working on large scale scientific pieces of
> software.
>
> Interests: Gravity, orbital mechanics, and general relativity; scientific
> software, automation, & artificial intelligence; dynamical systems and
> chaos; physics education and mentoring
>
> I hope that this helps and I hope might be able to contribute to Maxima.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Conrad