1.3 Conferences of Wednesday 9 july 2003 

1.3.1 Time-table 

1.3.2 Introduction to thema FS and Research and to Rosetta CDs for computer algebra 

Michel Lavaud (CNRS & Orléans Univ., France).
The aim of the Rosetta CDs is to allow the comparaison of the existing various free programs of computer algebra, by launching them directly from the CD, without having to install them beforehand on the hard disk. There exists one version for Linux and one for Windows, downloadable from the net in compressed iso form. The Windows version is an application of the project Experimental Computer Science, which consists in studying the behavior of software (free or not) in an experimental manner, with reproducible conditions. This approach was developed in order to study scientifically the << diseases>> (instabilities) of Windows and Linux, try to understand their origins and propose remedies. It aims to extend to useful software the studies (taxonomic, prophylactic etc.) that were done up to now only for harmful software (viruses).

1.3.3 Axiom - The next 30 years 

Tim Daly (CUNY, New York, USA).
Axiom started in the late 60s as the Scratchpad project at IBM Research. Over the next 30 years it evolved into a commercial platform for symbolic algebra. Recently Axiom has become open source software. We briefly describe Axiom's development followed by an overview of the algebra. Next we cover it's current state, review its strengths and weaknesses, and suggest research and development priorities for the next 30 years.

1.3.4 GNU TeXmacs - A scientific editing platform 

Joris van der Hoeven (Univ. Orsay, France).
GNU TEX [vdH01,vdH02,Gro01] is a free software, which can both be used as a scientific text editor and as a front-end for computer algebra systems. The editor allows you to write structured documents via a wysiwyg (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) and user friendly interface. New styles may be created by the user. The program implements high-quality typesetting algorithms and TeX fonts, which allow the user to produce professionally looking documents.

The high typesetting quality still goes through for automatically generated formulas, which makes TEX suitable as an interface for computer algebra systems, or other types of "plugins". Currently, there are interfaces with Axiom, Giac, GNUplot, Graphviz, Gtybalt, Macaulay2, Maxima, Mupad, GNU Octave, Pari, Qcl, GNU R, Reduce, Scilab and Yacas. TEX also supports the Guile/Scheme extension language, so that you may customize the interface and write your own extensions to the editor.

In our demonstration, we plan to show briefly how to edit mathematical texts with TEX, how to use computer algebra systems, and how to add interfaces with new systems in a very efficient way.

1.3.5 The Maxima Project - Working towards a world-class free computer algebra system 

James Amundson (The Maxima Project, Chicago, USA).
Maxima is a free software project with an uncommonly long history. In its present state, Maxima is a rich and powerful program. I describe how the current project grew out of an MIT research program dating to the 1960's. I also describe the current project itself, including examples of the Maxima's current capabilities, the progress we have made and the challenges that face the project itself. Looking to the future, I discuss what it will take to turn Maxima into a "world-class" system. Finally, I propose ways in which various free software mathematical projects might cooperate in order to advance the field of free mathematical software as a whole.

1.3.6 The Roxane Project 

Bernard Mourrain (INRIA Sophia Antipolis, France).
The issues addressed by the Roxane Project are reusability, efficiency, integration and evolutions of algebraic software. The objectives are to mutualise the efforts of implementation that are done in different groups; to organize the developments in a coherent environment; to furnish tools to build dedicated and efficient components for solving real problems in Computer Algebra; to take into account the evolution of the components, the adjunction of new components; to serve as a publication support for software developments, with an evaluation process; to distribute the software publication (ftp, cdrom, ...).

1.3.7 Yacas - A Do-it-yourself Symbolic Algebra Environment 

Ayal Pinkus (Netherlands).
We describe the design and implementation of Yacas a free computer algebra system currently under development. The system consists of a core interpreter and a library of scripts that implement symbolic algebra functionality. The interpreter provides a high-level weakly typed functional language designed for quick prototyping of computer algebra algorithms, but the language is suitable for all kinds of symbolic manipulation. It supports conditional term rewriting of symbolic expression trees, closures (pure functions) and delayed evaluation, dynamic creation of transformation rules, arbitrary-precision numerical calculations, and flexible user-defined syntax using infix notation. The library of scripts currently provides basic numerical and symbolic algebra functionality, such as polynomials and elementary functions, limits, derivatives and (limited) integration, solution of (simple) equations. The main advantages of Y are: free (GPL) software; a flexible and easy-to-use programming language with a comfortable and adjustable syntax; cross-platform portability and small resource requirements; and extensibility.