Re: [Axiom-developer] SAGE, Axiom, and usage

[Gabriel Dos Reis]

"Bill Page" <address@hidden> writes:

| On August 22, 2006 9:18 PM Gaby wrote:
| > 
| > Bill Page writes:
| > 
| > [...]
| > 
| > | Gaby would like to introduce his students to "symbolic
| > | computation", but really Axiom (and Aldor) are not very
| > | good at this -- by design.
| > 
| >     The appearance of AXIOM in the scientific market moves symbolic
| >     computations into a higher plane, where scientists can formulate 
| >     their statements in their own language and receive computer
| >     assistance in their proofs. [...] AXIOM provides a powerful
| >     scientific environment for easy construction of mathematical
| >     tools and algorithms; it is a symbolic manipulation system,
| >     and a high performance numerical system, with full graphic
| >     capabilities.
| > 
| >              -- Gregory V. Chudnovsky in the Foreword of
| >                 AXIOM, the Scientific Computation System
| > 
| > 
| > I suspect the authors of the book forgot to tell him that the
| > designers of AXIOM, by design, really did make it "not very good
| > at symbolic computation". 
| > 
| 
| Chudnovsky was not making the distinction between "symbolic
| computation" and "computer algebra" that Steven Watt is making
| in the papers that I cited previously. Perhaps Gaby, you were
| also was using "symbolic" in this more general sense? 

Yes, and as a matter of fact, I'm deeply skeptical of your previous
assertion. 
Furthermore, I'm unconvinced that Axiom will attract people if we
insist on painting it in a corner.

[...]

| Gregory Chudnovsky was a contemporary of Richard Jenks, one of the
| original developers of Axiom.

I know.

[...]

| I wonder what Dr. Chudnovsky would write today if
| asked to compare the Axiom open source project to other open
| source projects and the commercial counterparts?

you mean after Axiom has been deeply hibernating, and now has great
difficulties taking again the leadership of principled CAS?
Unless we have gotten a time-travel machine, I don't believe what is
happening to Axiom today must be retroactively used to redesign its
past foundation.

-- Gaby