[Axiom-math] axiom, browsers, and crystal

[daly]

i'm currently working on making the ISSAC Proceeding CD so i can't 
check out your references at the moment but i will as soon as i can.

i did want to respond to your comment that you didn't think discussion
was useful and that we need running code....

i think the focus on running code is great and i'm a great believer
in "making it work" but in this case i'm trying to raise the discussion
and our eyesight toward the 30 year horizon. 

i am trying to avoid 1.2 million lines of javascript with browser
dependent ifdefs. we already have that problem with C. instead of
trying to work "on top" of the browser, which limits our abilities
to the current available set, i'm trying to think of it as a large 
library of code we can exploit in new ways. and the careful choice
of a lisp available API would make the browser more useful as a
front end and be less maintenance in the long run.

we want to do everything the browser does (because people use them)
but locally we want to do so much more. restricting ourselves to 
require a network and vanilla browser code severely limits the possible
creative choices.

i want people to see axiom do things and get excited about doing more.
so far there is very little i've seen "on the net" that gives me that feel.
i want what i call the "knoppix" reaction.... klaus knopper modified a
standard distribution, made it bootable, and as a result i'm now trying
to build the doyen project. 

anyway, we need to think about the 30 year horizon and what we want when
get there. thus, the discussion.


back to the grind...

t