NYC LOCAL: Tuesday 10 May 2005 Lisp NYC: Tim Daly on the Large Computer Algebra System Axiom

[secretary]

Tim Daly, head of the Axiom Project, will address Lisp NYC, starting at
1900 hours, Tuesday 10 May 2005, in Trinity Lutheran Church, at Ninth Street
and Avenue B on the Island of the Manahattoes.

See below my signature for meeting details and directions.


Axiom is a large, serious, old growth computer algebra system.

Axiom is free software and almost all of Axiom's source code has been
converted to "literate code".  Much of Axiom's base programming system is
Lisp.

>From http://page.axiom-developer.org/zope/mathaction/AboutAxiom:

   History

   Axiom has been in development since 1971. At that time, it was called
   Scratchpad. Scratchpad was a large, general purpose computer algebra system
   that was originally developed by IBM under the direction of Richard
   Jenks. The project started in 1971 and evolved slowly. Barry Trager was key
   to the technical direction of the project. Scratchpad developed over a 20
   year stretch and was basically considered as a research platform for
   developing new ideas in computational mathematics. In the 1990s, as IBM's
   fortunes slid, the Scratchpad project was renamed to Axiom, sold to the
   Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) in England and became a commercial
   system. As part of the Scratchpad project at IBM in Yorktown Tim Daly
   worked on all aspects of the system and eventually helped transfer the
   product to NAG. For a variety of reasons it never became a financial
   success and NAG withdrew it from the market in October, 2001.  Open Source

   NAG agreed to release Axiom as free software, under this license. The basic
   motivation was that Axiom represents something different from other
   programs in a lot of ways. Primarily because of its foundation in
   mathematics the Axiom system will potentially be useful 30 years from
   now. In its current state it represents about 30 years and 300 man-years of
   research work. To strive to keep such a large collection of knowledge alive
   seems a worthwhile goal.


Tim Daly on one of the central problems of computerdom:

   My goal isn't to solve physics/math problems. My goal is to build a system
   that will be used by computational mathematicians 30 years from now. Once
   this is the stated goal several things become clear.

This is from a proper rant, to be found at
http://www.math.utexas.edu/pipermail/maxima/2004/007453.html.


For the official Lisp NYC announcement, including directions to the
gathering place, see below.

Jay Sulzberger <secretary@lxny.org>
Corresponding Secretary LXNY
LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization.
http://www.lxny.org


<blockquote
  what="official Lisp NYC announcement">

  From: Heow Eide-Goodman <lists@alphageeksinc.com>
  To: "lisp@lispnyc.org" <lisp@lispnyc.org>
  Date: 03 May 2005 15:42:54 -0400

  Please join us for our next meeting on Tuesday, May 10th from 7:00
  to 9:00 at Trinity Lutheran Church.

  Timothy Daly, published author, academic researcher, open source
  programmer and lead developer of Axiom will be presenting about his role
  as the driving force behind Axiom.  With over 70 developers and 200
  researchers worldwide it can best be described as:

      Axiom is a general purpose Computer Algebra system. It is useful
      for research and development of mathematical algorithms providing
      a very high level way to express abstract mathematical concepts.
      The Axiom Library defines over 1,000 strongly-typed mathematical
      domains and categories.

  Axiom consists of an interpreter and compiler, a browser, a graphical
  interface, and a new online wiki that allows users to create web pages
  that inline computations.

  Axiom is built upon Common Lisp.

  For more Axiom information:

      http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/axiom
      http://page.axiom-developer.org/
      http://page.axiom-developer.org/zope/mathaction/ReduceWiki

  Directions to Trinity:

    Trinity Lutheran
    602 E. 9th St. & Ave B., on Thomkins Square Park
    http://trinitylowereastside.org/

    From N,R,Q,W (8th Street NYU Stop) and the 4,5 (Astor Street Stop):
      Walk East 4 blocks on St. Marks, cross Thomkins Square Park.

    From F&V (2nd Ave Stop):
      Walk E one or two blocks, turn north for 8 short blocks

    From L (1st Ave Stop):
      Walk E one block, turn sounth for 5 short blocks

    The M9 bus line drops you off at the doorstep and the M15 is near get
    off on St. Marks & 1st)

    To get there by car, take the FDR (East River Drive) to Houston then
    go NW till you're at 9th & B.  Week-night parking isn't bad at all,
    but if you're paranoid about your Caddy or in a hurry, there is a
    parking garage on 9th between 1st and 3rd Ave.


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</blockquote>