Re: [Axiom-developer] RE: User interface,TeXmacs and Axiom

[C Y]

--- Ralf Hemmecke <address@hidden> wrote:

> >> Who can we get to work on this?
> > 
> > I'm poking at it a little, but I'm not planning on adding the
> > graphical output of Imaxima for quite a while - that's non-trivial
> > and I'm not sure it works on Windows.
> 
> I've browsed a bit through it... and to me Imath looks somewhat
> similar to preview-latex
> (http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/preview-latex).
> 
> Maybe if Axioms TeX output is rendered via preview-latex it would
> give the same result. (Sorry, I have no idea how to do this.)

Yes, for a number of features it is desirable to have tex output
rendered.

My biggest question on doing this is if there is any way to re-set
Axiom's line numbers.  The way I have in mind is admittedly a hack but
should work fine for most purposes, but in order for it to be
"transparent" to the user I need to be able to "roll back" the Axiom
line number to where it was before I start my "internal" TeX work.  In
Maxima there is a variable which holds the current line number and we
re-set that - is there a similar mechanism in Axiom?

Alternatively, a way to send "non-line-based" input that is evaluated
outside the traditional input-output pair scheme would work, too.

> And another remark... Many of us are (X)Emacs users, but you cannot 
> expect from an ordinary Axiom User to know all the Emacs stuff.

I'll agree with the sentiment that we need one "official" GUI for most
uses, but that doesn't mean that an Emacs interface is in opposition to
that goal.

Axiom, in its current state, is much more for programmers and
developers than for end users.  An Emacs inteface which helps those
people seems like a logical step at this time.  An "official" GUI, of
sufficient quality to be worthy of the Axiom project, is EXTREMELY
non-trivial and will need some components that are still in development
elsewhere (the STIX Fonts being an example.)  There is no clear winner
in the best way to do a GUI, and given the number of other tasks we
need to complete I'm not sure worrying about an end user level GUI is
important yet.  I posted a link a while back to a thesis done on CAS
GUI design - I would want to read and understand that before I start
doing anything serious.  I have my biases like anyone else, the primary
ones being:

1) I don't care to use a web browser as a primary GUI for anything - I
love Bill's work on the Axiom webpages, but I prefer a local GUI
program for my "primary" use.  This probably makes me a dinosaur, but
oh well. 

2) I like the idea of a Lisp based GUI, even though my idea of an
optimal solution would require libraries only just being started.

Either or both of these notions may be nonsense, but they explain my
interest in things like McCLIM, Garnet, cl-typesetting, etc.

> So we should not force users to learn Emacs if they just want to
> use Axiom.

I agree.  However, the kind of interface the modern CAS user expects
will take a LOT of non-trivial work, and there is not likely to be much
of a concensus on the "best" way to do it.  Also, before we do a GUI we
would probably need to bring B-natural or something like it to
maturity.

Cheers,
CY

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