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Wasted effort - help Maxima, Axiom, Scilab
by jj on Wednesday 31/Jan/2007, @07:34
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With _real_ mathematics open source projects like Axiom (CAS), Maxima (CAS), and Scilab (matlab like, feature-full and fast, unlike the stagnated Octave), and R (full-blown professional statistics environment - but in serious need of some spreadsheet interface) it's a real shame that KDE chooses to waste time with replicating functionalities that are already in other software, when eforts could be made to further those serious packages.
Stop writing toys. Stop playing. |
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Re: Wasted effort - help Maxima, Axiom, Scilab
by Benoit Jacob on Wednesday 31/Jan/2007, @08:04
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The projects you mention have nothing to do with Kalzium and Kmplot.
Obviously you haven't RTFA.
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Re: Wasted effort - help Maxima, Axiom, Scilab
by Troy Unrau on Wednesday 31/Jan/2007, @08:37
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KmPlot is designed for quick-and-easy plotting for simple math, not full blown math suites. If you want to do serious math, you use a serious math program, not a program that ships as part of an educational suite.
You wouldn't use javascript to write a kernel. Don't use KmPlot for your math thesis.
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Re: Wasted effort - help Maxima, Axiom, Scilab
by name on Friday 02/Feb/2007, @16:10
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https://www.youos.com/ -- operating system written in javascript :-)
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Re: Wasted effort - help Maxima, Axiom, Scilab
by nick on Wednesday 31/Jan/2007, @10:27
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still, the direct competitor is gnuplot...
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Re: Wasted effort - help Maxima, Axiom, Scilab
by kwilliam on Wednesday 31/Jan/2007, @10:50
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"Stop writing toys. Stop playing."
Excuse me? Are you telling developers they can't have fun? Be a little nicer when you make requests!
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Re: Wasted effort - help Maxima, Axiom, Scilab
by Hobbes on Wednesday 31/Jan/2007, @14:57
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You should mention Python + SciPy + NumPy + Matplotlib. This should be the winning combination, IMHO. At least, this the best I found in open source, after having wandering for a while (Scilab, Octave, Gnuplot, R and others)! I encourage people to write libraries/toolboxes in this framework. Scilab and Octave fail to compete with Matlab, even if Scilab is good. I think that Python with brilliant libraries such SciPy is the best path for open source software to compete with Matlab. The work is well advanced, but help is needed!
Your sentences "Stop writing toys. Stop playing." had to lead to disagreements! On one hand, you cannot blame people writing new software _for you and for free_. On the other hand, developers with ambition bring useful tools, which is better including for them, in the end. But, in my experience, many many developers do not understand that. I do not know why. Open source might suffer from a lack of steering people, just like there are good managers in firms that prevent talented people from wasting their time.
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Scilab is not open source
by Frodo on Wednesday 31/Jan/2007, @16:53
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Um, except that Scilab is not a "real" open-source project. In fact, it is not "open source" at all according to the commonly-accepted OSI definition, despite the Scilab web page's prominent claim to be an "open source platform".
In particular, their license prohibits commercial redistribution of modified versions.
(And if you're about to object, "But who cares about that?", think about it: it gives a single organization, INRIA, an effective monopoly over commercial support for Scilab. If all free software had that restriction, commercial Linux distros would basically be out of business and the world would be quite different.)
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there is a need for a KDE Maxima
by Ian Monroe on Thursday 01/Feb/2007, @19:44
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Telling volunteers what to do (and especially what not to do) is the height of superiority and ignorance. I haven't used KmPlot, but Kalzium is actually really handy.
I agree that a KDE computer algebra system would be really nice. I currently use Mathematica, and its interface frankly just sucks. It totally breaks down if you commit the sin of turning the numlock key on (yes, its a math program that doesn't let you use the number pad!) and its the only program I've seen to misbehave with Beryl. A KDE frontend to Maxima would be killer.
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Re: Wasted effort - help Maxima, Axiom, Scilab
by Tina Russell on Monday 21/May/2007, @18:10
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I totally way disagree... Plenty of programs _nominally_ have KmPlot's functionality. KmPlot is the _only_ program I've seen that does plots easily and quickly, and that allows you to change the coordinate plane dynamically and to trace Y-values along a function curve. I'll grant that I'm not a super open-source uber expert, but I know that ease of use counts and the time I would waste trying to figure out how to do plots in other programs (most implementations I've seen are simply frontends for GNUplot) is time I could have spent working and getting things done. KDEplot is simple, extensible, and powerful, and that's very important. Saying it's a "wasted effort" belies all the time and energy it has saved me in my math classes, but moreso it belies all the money it saves for all math students who need a quick and easy plotting program at home and don't feel like paying $80+ for a graphing calculator. (Remember, not everyone is going to learn about GNUplot frontends. Personally, I can barely get my brain around it and it's so frustrating, I'd much rather use KMPlot's simple, friendly, and dynamic interface, where I can add functions, change the grid, edit functions, etc. on the fly and with the fewest processes possible.)
Personally, I love Maxima... I use it and KMPlot together as something of a tag team for massive math productivity. A KDE frontend for Maxima would be killer, and one that would integrate with KMPlot would be sublime (in fact, combining such tools to create an integrated math toolkit, like Mathematica, would be a great goal). Just, please don't insult the work that KMPlot's team has put into this piece of software. I know it's not wasted effort because of how important it is to my math education. KMPlot is easy, simple, and fun to use, and that matters. I can't wait for the new version. And if you think developers should "stop playing" or "stop making toys".. you might want to realize that Linux basically started with some guy (that is, Linus) seeing if he could make his own OS just for the fun of it. There's value in toys and in tinkering; if you enjoy making your software, you'll make software that you will enjoy using, and that is the software that will be useful.
Sure, other programs do what KMPlot does... just not as well.
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