Hi, Also - I think https://www.sagemath.org has a similar purpose, including a custom notebook for symbolic mathematics, that uses Sympy among other engines.
Cheers, Matthew On Tue, May 7, 2019 at 10:32 PM Aaron Meurer <[email protected]> wrote: > > You may also be interested in SymPy Live (https://live.sympy.org) and > SymPy Gamma (http://gamma.sympy.org/). > > Aaron Meurer > > On Tue, May 7, 2019 at 3:28 PM David Bailey <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I think my primary reason for proposing a new frontend, is that I'd like to > > see SymPy algebra/calculus reach more people - people whose need for > > computer algebra is real, but not overwhelming, or children who are > > learning calculus for fun, years before it was taught in school (as I did). > > As a consultant, I was contacted by more than one PhD student, who was > > fluent in his subject, and needed computer algebra, but with only a limited > > grasp of computers. > > > > I didn't come to SymPy looking for a reason to write a frontend, I came > > because I was interested to discover how effective SymPy is compared with > > Mathematica. > > > > There is lots of simple but useful free software available now - for > > example the post-it note program, Stickies or the clipboard storage system, > > Ditto. These seem to have been built by one person, and yet even they have > > a custom GUI, and often work on more than one platform. By contrast, SymPy > > is obviously a massive effort with many contributors, and yet rather than > > having a dedicated GUI interface, it runs via a web browser with a CMD > > program connected in some way. The would-be computer algebra enthusiast has > > to find the weirdly named Jupyter program, start it up, and then know to > > click Python 3, and then click 'New' in order to get to a window into which > > he has to import SymPy and its symbols before he can begin to type in > > algebra. When he comes to save his work, he again has problems, because > > most of his computer is inaccessible for understandable security reasons. > > > > People who really NEED computer algebra will learn to do all that, but I am > > pretty sure you will lose a lot of others on the way. I think that is a > > shame, and that free algebra software should also be easy and friendly to > > use. > > > > Indeed Kasper Peeters has already decided to create some type of stand > > alone frontend - part of Cadabra - that I am eager to try, but it seems to > > have some teething troubles right now. > > > > I'd imagine that many - maybe most potential users of SymPy would like to > > simply execute algebraic commands - they don't really want to use Python > > explicitly unless and until they become more serious about using SymPy. I > > propose that my frontend will accept all the input that Jupyter will > > accept, but it will start connected to Python 3, with SymPy imported > > together with all its symbols. I also suggest that a pre-scan can pick up a > > variety of elementary (but common) faults, and give clean errors - unpaired > > quotes and missing brackets would be obvious examples. By default, this > > scan would also spot single character identifiers and set them up on the > > fly as SymPy symbols. This would mean that all the variables most used in > > algebra - single letters and Greek letters - would be immediately usable. > > More advanced users who wanted to incorporate Python code, would probably > > be advised to turn this feature off. I think it would also be possible to > > distinguish between variable names and function names and set them up > > appropriately. > > > > I think producing quality error messages for other kinds of fault is also > > important. Everyone makes errors, and beginners make more than most - is > > they don't make sense, they soon give up. > > > > I'd also like to apply some syntactic sugar in places. For example, the > > ability to expand expressions such as f(x**2) in powers of x is fine, but > > the complex notation for f`(0) and higher derivatives, makes this very hard > > to use. > > > > Also, now is the age of UTF8, and clearly the frontend should at some point > > provide easy access to all the symbols relevant to maths. These need to be > > easy to input on a normal keyboard, and Mathematica provides several ways > > to do this, including typing things like <esc>inf<esc> to obtain an > > infinity symbol. The replacement is made immediately. Something along these > > lines could make SymPy even more attractive. > > > > S.Y.Lee suggests creating a formula editor. By this, I think he means an > > editor that could operate directly on a 2-D mathematical expression - say > > to change the limits on an integral. In practice with Mathematica, I found > > this rather fiddly, and I usually suggested converting an expression to > > ImputForm, changing it, and then changing the result back again. > > > > I guess this is my provisional roadmap (it wouldn't all happen at once), > > depending on what everyone thinks and how Cadabra works - I don't want to > > re-invent the wheel. > > > > David > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "sympy" 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 https://groups.google.com/group/sympy. > > To view this discussion on the web visit > > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sympy/3285f96d-b1d2-75fb-4837-75460bf0c315%40dbailey.co.uk. > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "sympy" 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 https://groups.google.com/group/sympy. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sympy/CAKgW%3D6%2BpBBnUB3DgrEKxB%3DEG3cgGv7UhjD0d319kzT0s4w6%3Dgw%40mail.gmail.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sympy" 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 https://groups.google.com/group/sympy. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sympy/CAH6Pt5rTeSWwt0w-ZGyB%2Bac2CSaZ3o0LU64%3D9JQhNk5v_UQsWQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
