Re[2]: Octave & C++/Octave and symbolic math

[PETER HOPFGARTNER]

     A lot of people agree on "Do one thing and do it well".
     
     Anyway it migth be worthwile to spend some thougths on how to 
     interface Octave and Maxima. Personally I never used Maxima so I can't 
     contribute very much to such a discussion.
     
     Maybe that it's possible to write some simple m-file that permits to 
     export data-structures in a way that Maxima can interprete these and 
     vice-versa (matrices, vectors, elementary functions).
     
     Is Maxima currently maintained and is there a such a thing like the 
     Octave web-site?
     
                                        Peter


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Octave & C++/Octave and symbolic math 
Author:  <address@hidden > at NOVARALINK
Date:    6/5/98 7:18 AM


Hi there,
     
In my opinion, this is something which lies completely outside the 
scope of a package like octave. I am using it because it gives a fast 
and convenient access to reliable, robust, and fast numerical 
methods. Therefore, it is an ideal tool for  n u m e r i c a l 
experiments. It is by far faster than matlab. Octave helps me a lot 
in research and teaching (Thanks to jwe!). Integrating other tools 
like symbolic math lead to A completely new package. Presently, I do 
not know of a satisfying integration of both sides of computations. 
Even commercial products do not try it. A more pressing question is 
the inclusion of sparse numerics (IMO).
Conclusion: I think that one should not spent time for building a new 
"elefant" but rather restrict octave to its basics.
     
Michael
     
PS. Sometimes I have the impression that there is the believe that 
everything should be (re)programmed in C++ today. U*x has nice tools 
for integrating sources from different languages, so use them. M.
     
+---------------------------------------------------------------+ 
|  Michael Hanke                Royal Institute of Technology   | 
|                               NADA                            | 
|                               S-10044 Stockholm               | 
|                               Sweden                          | 
+---------------------------------------------------------------+ 
|  Visiting address:            Lindstedtsvaegen 3              | 
|  Phone:                       + (46) (8) 790 6278             | 
|  Fax:                         + (46) (8) 790 0930             | 
|  Email:                       address@hidden               | 
|                               address@hidden       | 
+---------------------------------------------------------------+