Subject: Sun-Symbolic-Math Digest v1n2 Sun-Symbolic-Math Digest Volume 1 : Number 2 Editor: Steve Christensen ******************************** IF YOU DID NOT RECEIVE V1N1 OF THIS MAILING, THERE WERE SOME EMAIL ADDRESSES THAT DID NOT GO THROUGH. PLEASE EMAIL Sun-Symbolic-Math-Request@spock.ncsa.uiuc.edu (128.174.20.9) AGAIN AND I WILL SENT THAT ISSUE. ******************************** Today's Topics: Administrative Stuff Vendor/Developer Request Differentiation muTensor, REDTEN and Franz Lisp Reduce Macsyma on Sun Proff of properties of large systems ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Administrative Stuff The ftp server is now ready for anonymous access. Files can be sent or retrieved from: ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu 128.174.20.50 in the directory Symbolic. The first entries are in Digest_archive where v1n1 and v1n2 are now located. The directory SMP has X library files sent by Kevin McIsaac in Australia: ..................smp.uwa.README......................... SMP library files and UTILITIES developed at Dept of Physics Uni of Western Australia Nedlands 6009 Australia for further information contact playboy@earwax.OZ Outline of Contents UTIL Some usefull smp utilities. In particular toX. Moves a file to the local X area and indexes it in the infodata database INFO Current and uptodate info database X Assorted library files. Of particular mention are XIso Possibily the most useful thing here. Very usefull to dealling with large expressions XGhg* Lots of suff on Generalised Hypergeometrics. If you want summation... XHg* More stuff on hypergeometrics XGamma* Gamma function simplification XPoc* Pochammer function simplification X*PR Formatted output for sums Ghg's ... X*WR Warning messages for Ghg's file loading, singularities... ....................................................... If you have any problems using this ftp server, email Sun-Symbolic-Math@spock.ncsa.uiuc.edu. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Vendor/Developer Request One of the most often asked questions in lists like this is where to get software to run on a given machine. Therefore I am asking that vendors and developers of symbolic manipulations systems send as complete a description of their SUN symbolic manipulations systems currently being sold or distributed, where they can be obtained, etc. I do not want a big sales pitch here, just information. If you are writing a package that you plan to put in the public domain or license at a small charge, I want to know that also. I know there are a lot of people out there with their own libraries, tricks, tools and other useful things that the general symbolic community might like to see. We have already heard from the Maple and Symbolics Macsyma people (see below). I want to hear from SMP, Cayley, Reduce, Sheep and any others. Special purpose systems that do only one or two things would also be interesting to hear about. I, for example, would like to find out about all indicial tensor manipu- lation systems. I would also like to list literature and other resources like: 1. Useful journals, magazines, newsletters, user groups, organizations 2. Other email lists and notesfiles 3. books 4. tools that help with equation/text processing 5. benchmark programs, test suites If you have a longer article that you would like to put in the ftp archives here, that can be done. Steve Christensen NCSA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Feb 88 16:29:45 CST From: griewank%antares@anl-mcs.arpa Subject: Differentiation I am particularly interested in various approaches to symbolic or automatic differentiation and plan to produce a survey paper on the matter. Therefore I would be very glad for reports on experiences with the facilities provided in symbolic-manipulation-packages, programming languages and precompilers. At this stage my main concern is not ease of use but computational complexity in terms of memory requirements and computing time. Andreas Griewank ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Feb 88 19:30:24 EST From: John Harper Subject: muTensor, REDTEN and Franz Lisp Reduce [This is an edited version of a message sent to me answering some questions regarding the availability of REDTEN and one version of Reduce it runs with. This program was discussed in v1n1. -- smc} Below is a notice from the franz version of Reduce, you can get it from the address given; we cannot give it to you. More importantly, the Franz version is about half the speed of the PSL version, apparently due to both a poorly tuned compiler, and an inefficient translation from PSL to Franz. (That applies to Reduce itself as well as REDTEN). However, our Franz lisp (opus 38.79) is probably not the best version available for the SUN, it came originally from the VAX and needed a lot of fiddling before it would go. We don't expect to either sell or license mutensor or redten. Both have already been sent to a number of people free of charge (but only executables, no sources). It will be essentially free source to use as you wish, don't blame us if it breaks and don't sell it yourself :-) We do reserve the copyright for the U.of.T etc.. There is a blurb in all the source files. John Harper --------------------------- The symbolic computation system REDUCE 3.0, originally written in Standard Lisp, has been ported to Franz Lisp to run on the VAX machine under 4.2BSD. The Standard Lisp version of REDUCE 3.0 is distributed by The Rand Corporation which holds copyright to REDUCE sources, test suites, and documents. The Franz Lisp port has been done at Computer Research Lab of Tektronix, Inc., which holds copyright to Franz Lisp sources of REDUCE, jointly with The Rand Corporation. The Franz Lisp version of REDUCE for the VAX computer is an experimental system, not a supported Tektronix product. It is being distributed on as is basis, without any expressed or implied warranties. It is not for resale or redistribution. For information about the system and to report any bugs, please contact: US Mail: S. Kamal Abdali Symbolic Computation Program Computer Research Lab Tektronix, Inc. P.O. Box 500 -- MS 50/662 Beaverton, Oregon 97077 uucp: {ucbvax,decvax,ihnp4,allegra,uw-beaver,hplabs} !tektronix!tekchips!abdali CSnet: abdali@tektronix ARPAnet: abdali.tektronix@csnet-relay ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Feb 88 15:37 EST From: Richard Petti Subject: Macsyma on Sun MACSYMA ON SUN WORKSTATIONS As an opening communication to the Sun-Symbolic-Math Mailing list, I would like to describe the availability of Macsyma on Sun workstations. Sun is the fastest-growing hardware platform for performing symbolic mathematical computations. We work closely with Sun to address the needs of users who are interested in Sun hardware and Macsyma software. Macsyma has been available on Sun-2 and Sun-3 workstations for about 18 months. Release 309.6 for the Sun-3 began shipping in spring of 1987. NEW MACSYMA RELEASE FOR SUN WORKSTATIONS IN 1988 This year we are making a major transition to a new family of Macsyma's based on Common Lisp. We have been investing our technical effort in this new version for the past three years, and now we are within six months of delivering it on Sun, I believe. Besides the traditional capabilities of Macsyma, some highlights of the new version include: o Symbolic Calculus: - ODE's: We have installed the Prelle-Singer algorithm for finding first integrals of first order ODE's. - Operator Algebra: This capability is shipping in the current Sun-3 version and will be extended to all other versions in 1988. o Symbolic Approximation Methods: We are installing a wide range of methods, including - Taylor methods: Taylor_solve (shipping), Taylor_ode; - Perturbation theory methods for ODE's: Average_periodic_ode (completed), Lindstedt (completed), two scale expansions, and the method of Lie transforms. o Fortran Links: Two-way communication with Fortran. - Gentran, a very powerful Fortran generator, has been installed. It can translate iteration statements, if-then statements, data type declaration information and much more into Fortran or `C'. In its `template mode', Gentran enables users to write "mixed Fortran-Macsyma code". - We are developing links enabling MACSYMA to call Fortran libraries and user-written programs. (This feature may not be in the next Sun release.) o Share Application Libraries: In 1987 major work was performed in many areas, including: - Various Taylor series methods, including reversion of power series. - Various numerical capabilities: Runge-Kutta, Newton-Cotes, interpolation of roots, fast Fourier transforms. - Indicial tensor analysis package Itensr is repaired and fully functional in Common Lisp versions, and will appear on Sun in the 1988 release. - Component tensor package Ctensr will be superceeded by Ctensor, which includes frame fields, affine torsion and conformal nonmetricity. - The integral equation package, Inteqn, is being repaired and extended. - Jordan form of matrices. - Set theory. o Pattern Matching: MACSYMA's capabilities were extended in 1986, and these improvements will be included in the Sun version of Macsyma in 1988. o User Interface: We are building an improved user interface for MACSYMA, including scrolling, mouse selection of subexpressions, and other features. o Documentation: - User's Guide: In July 1987 we made available the Macsyma User's Guide, which is much more accessible than the Macsyma Reference Manual. - Reference Manual: In summer of 1988 we will deliver version 13 of the Macsyma Reference Manual, which aims at greater ease of use. o Maintenance work: Our top priority has been to improve the reliability of Macsyma over the past two years. While our installed base is growing rapidly, our bug mail is dwindling faster. o Customer Service: In 1986 and 1987 we revamped our service program, introducing a full-time service staff, a new training course, a new basic service offering, and lower prices. One of the trade-offs we have made is to have a few, major software releases, so that our staff can spend their time making enhancements to the software, instead of going through the exhaustive quality assurance checks which are necessary with each new release. We will wait to complete the port of Common Lisp Macsyma to Sun-3 before doing a Sun-4 port later in 1988. Information on many of these enhancements, user articles and other news is available in the quarterly Macsyma Newsletter, which has been published since 1984. TELL US WHAT YOU NEED We very much look forward to your suggestions concerning what the user community needs most. Our development decisions are driven by the needs of you, the user community. We are also prepared to provide software, and in a few cases funds, for very high quality enhancements or extensions to Macsyma. Our objective is to bring symbolic mathematics software further into the mainstream of applied mathematics. We can be reached o by telephone: 1-800-MACSYMA (622-7962) o by email: macsyma@symbolics.com or macsyma@SCRC-stony-brook.arpa o by mail: Computer Aided Mathematics Group Symbolics, Inc. Eleven Cambridge Center Cambridge, MA 02142 Thanks, Dick Petti ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Mon Feb 22 09:42:18 1988 From: gabriel%antares@anl-mcs.arpa Subject: Proff of properties of large systems I would like to join the Sun Symbolic Manipulation list/SIG. My primary interest is in algebraic methods for proof of properties of large systems such as conceptual designs for software or large engineered artifacts comprising large numbers of interconnected parts whose individual properties are known. The problem is to prove results about properties of the system as a whole, e.g. will the autpilot fly the aircraft satisfactorily for states in some region of the performance envelope, given the equations of motion for flight, the equations of motion for actuators of control surfaces, the equations of motion for sensors, the control equations, and the behaviour of the interfaces between all these elements as implemented by the autopilot computer. I'd be delighted to hear from anyone with similar interests. John Gabriel --------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of v1n2 --------------