On 11/03/14 13:55, Bill Page wrote: >> I'm not in the position to drive the changes in type system of SPAD / Aldor. >> I consider myself to be only a beginner. However - having experience with >> couple other languages like C++, Python, Ocaml, Haskell I see what could be >> added to the type system to make it look modern and appealing to new users. >> > > I am not sure whether it mates sense to strive for just a "modern" > look and appeal. There are already a lot of players in that sort of > game. Where Axiom is different is in the depth with which it applies > abstract mathematics. It is hard to imagine that this approach can > have any sort of mass appeal - except of course among those most > mathematically inclined. :)
Bill, I agree that new features should be driven by the mathematical requirements. For instance a type system that supports monads. But also a type system that would remove the need for 'necessary evils' like 'pretend' and macros. Having said that, a modern IDE would be nice. I'm not sure I would be quite as pessimistic as you about the potential for wider appeal of FriCAS. There is a book, I quite like, called 'Visual Group Theory' by Nathan Carter 2009. This is not for hard core mathematicians but for people just starting abstract mathematics. I think FriCAS could support this much wider audience of people learning mathematics allowing them to learn by experimenting. I think this could be done without compromising or changing the existing capabilities. I think all it would require is graphical interface and an additional set of domains aimed at this audience. Martin -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "FriCAS - computer algebra system" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/fricas-devel. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
