Re: [Axiom-developer] Aldor?

[Jay Belanger]

"Bill Page" <address@hidden> writes:

> On January 13, 2006 12:06 PM Jay Belanger wrote:
>> ...
>> So that any potential signers could get a quick grasp of the
>> situation, a little history might be useful.  What about
>> something like:
>
> Thanks for the draft. I think it is very good. I have inserted
> a few explanations below. I will leave it up to you exactly
> how to modify the text.

Thanks for the additional information.  I've fixed the inaccuracies,
and below is another draft.  (Feel free to change it yourself if you
want, of course.)

Jay

   Axiom is a sophisticated computer algebra system originally
   developed as an IBM research project.  IBM sold Axiom to the
   Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) who marketed it and continued its
   development.  After NAG discontinued Axiom as a commercial product
   they generously released part of the Axiom source code under a free
   license.  Axiom is now very usable and is currently being actively
   developed by an enthusiastic community. It is expected to be useful
   in research and education for quite some time.

   The language used for writing Axiom libraries is called SPAD (short
   for Scratchpad, the original name of Axiom).  While Axiom was still
   being developed by IBM, an improved language, Aldor, was created
   for writing Axiom libraries.  While the Aldor compiler was
   originally part of the Axiom system, it was became a separate
   project when NAG discontinued the sale of Axiom as a commercial
   product.  The Aldor compiler was not part of Axiom when the Axiom
   sources were relicensed, and so is not currently included with Axiom.

   Binaries for Aldor have been made freely available and the sources
   are available under a generous license.  However, the license does
   not qualify as a free or open source license.  While Axiom can
   still be built using Aldor, the lack of a free license for Aldor
   prohibits it from being a standard part of Axiom, and so nothing in
   the base Axiom system can assume that Aldor is included.

   A free license for Aldor would allow it to become a standard part
   of Axiom, which would improve Axiom and make Aldor a more
   widespread language.  A free license available as soon as possible
   would allow current development on Axiom to use Aldor.

   We, the undersigned, respectfully request that the Aldor compiler
   be released under a free license at the earliest opportunity.

   Sincerely,