Re: [Axiom-developer] AXIOM target groups description ?

[Bertfried Fauser]

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005, Vladimir Bondarenko wrote:

> Who are supposed to be the consumers of AXIOM now and
> in the planned 30 years span? Is it possible to give
> a more specific description of the AXIOM user target
> group(s)?

Dear Vladimir,

        this is a Hen and Egg proble somehow, and might be a problem of TV
sations in western countries. If you go only for the basic wishes of
customers, you will most likely be fed with popcorn and big macs.....

        Of course, the typing system of AXIOM requires a profound
knowledge of mathematics and hence the potential users have to do quite a
bit of work here which diminishes their number but increses the abilities
of those who mastered it.

        The big deal is to have a tool which can do things which are hard
if not even imposible to do in other CAS systems. Secondly AXIOM is free
so it has in my eyes several advantages over nonfree (closed source) CAS
systems. For me AXIOMS goods contain:

* Transparency of code
* "provability" of correctness (one can in principle check what is going
  on in computations down to the last bit)
* Literate programing and documentation of algorithms
* Typed language
* ....
[the last could be realized in closed source too...]

This amounts to the hope that AXIOM will belong to the tools used in the
far future (in terms of computer busines time scale).

However, the new and developing branch of symbolic (experimental)
mathematics needs further tools to cope with the complexity of the task,
like knowlegde databases, documentation systems which adapt for the users
needs and ability (crystal), a sort of coursework to introduce newcommers
to the mathematics (including algorithms) of the field, online cooperative
development and computing facilities (like MathAction) etc...

Last but not least, could you have guessed the present political landscape
of Europe 30 years ago? The same is true for the 30 year horizon of AXIOM
in the future, hopefully lots of unexpected things to come.

ciao
BF.

% PD Dr Bertfried Fauser
%     Institution: Max Planck Institut for Math, Leipzig <http://www.mis.mpg.de>
%   Privat Docent: University of Konstanz, Phys Dept 
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