Earlier quoted context omitted.
It works by allowing the project to deal with honest people and ignore assholes efficiently. And for a small team (in this case, one person), getting rid of assholes who just want to rip the project off with minimal effort is a big win. After all, if you just want to play around with the system you are a hobbyist and can get it for free anyway. Why go to the extra effort of stealing the code? And if you actually are…
I don't think it is about people being assholes, but just going the way of least resistance. So if it is easier to buy a license key and use it, than to just remove the license check, then that's what people will do. Same the other way around. I read somewhere here that the free version is restricted (single thread only?). Also the mechanism for offline work sounds like a pain, so if multithreaded and offline is your…
Symbolica Computer Algebra System
111–120 of 126 posts
Re: Symbolica Computer Algebra System
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
That an exercise on SICP, a Scheme learning book. And there are similar ones for Common Lisp.
Say what? I'm always astounded that people think everyone knows all the acronyms for whatever field they're working in.
Re: Symbolica Computer Algebra System
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
These polynomials appear when computing Feynman diagrams, which are used to make predictions for the Large Hadron Collider. The collider can measure collisions with such astonishing precision ( The large polynomials appear in the middle of the computation, often referred to as intermediate expression swell. This also happens when you do a Gaussian elimination or compute greatest common divisors: the final result will…
Is there a document/book you can recommend that includes a simplified example/tutorial of this computation process from beginning to end? (Or, what are the right keywords to search for such a thing?) I'm looking for something like: here's the particle interaction we will work on, this is a very simple Feynman diagram, and here's the simplified data the LHC gave us about it, here's the resulting equation from which we…
Re: Symbolica Computer Algebra System
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Say what? I'm always astounded that people think everyone knows all the acronyms for whatever field they're working in.
By just googling 'SICP Scheme' the hints are pretty clear...
Re: Symbolica Computer Algebra System
#115I learned about Monte Carlo integration when looking through the codebase, though, so that was cool!
Re: Symbolica Computer Algebra System
#116I am leading an academic research group with a site-wide Symbolica license. Because Symbolica is in early development and the work of a single person for now, one great benefit for us is the dedicated attention we receive. Any bug or feature we're particularly interested in gets immediate attention. And despite the product being licensed, Symbolica's source-available nature gives us full confidence in the author's lo…
All those C++ examples feel like bare bones C, when modern C++ can be made to look as easy to use as Python. I expect to see std:: types for everything, proper namespaces, ranges,... not C strings, C arrays, and extern "C". See CUDA and SYCL. Also the API reference for C++ is missing in most places.
We should encourage this original approach of licensed source available software, otherwise you end up with either black-boxy Mathematica-like software of xzlib disasters and nothing in between.
Re: Symbolica Computer Algebra System
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
All those C++ examples feel like bare bones C, when modern C++ can be made to look as easy to use as Python. I expect to see std:: types for everything, proper namespaces, ranges,... not C strings, C arrays, and extern "C". See CUDA and SYCL. Also the API reference for C++ is missing in most places.
He's a one-man army of a one-year old software, so it makes sense that he would focus on core features that are most relevant to his existing customers and capable of attracting new ones. If this was important to you or someone else who would sign up for a Symbolica license, I'm sure he would improve on this. A streamlined C++ API is comparatively easier to achieve than beating state-of-the-art efficiency on key CAS…
Tell it is a C library, and announce C++ support when it is actually available.
Re: Symbolica Computer Algebra System
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Despite Symbolica being licensed, its source code is still available which clearly shows the author's intent. It may be important in various contexts, e.g. security or satisfying certain grant requirements in academia, or whenever custom minor modifications are necessary.
What intent do you infer from the fact that it's source-available instead of being FOSS?
Re: Symbolica Computer Algebra System
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
He's a one-man army of a one-year old software, so it makes sense that he would focus on core features that are most relevant to his existing customers and capable of attracting new ones. If this was important to you or someone else who would sign up for a Symbolica license, I'm sure he would improve on this. A streamlined C++ API is comparatively easier to achieve than beating state-of-the-art efficiency on key CAS…
Completely fair, but then don't announce what is a C library, as being a C++ one, just because it uses iostream on the examples. Tell it is a C library, and announce C++ support when it is actually available.