Re: [Axiom-developer] Axiom compiling - newbie questions

[Bill Page]

Martin,

I think you are going about this the right way ... but you do have a
lot to learn. Programming in Spad in Axiom has a steep learning curve
but it does start to flatten out after a few years ... :-)  No, it's
not that bad but the output of the Spad compiler is simply atrocious.
I don't think there ever was a compiler in my worst nightmare that
produced such obscure and unhelpful output! The language though (if
you can learn to love strongly typed languages) is, in my opinion,
worth all the effort.

The message "Unexpected HT command" is really just a warning that
something in a comment (doc string) does not conform to requirements
for HyperTex processing. If the compile completed successfully you
will see a message about GrassmanAlgebra being "exposed" in your
session. If you get this you should try something like

  )show GrassmanAlgebra

to verify that it really is there.  Then just proceed to use it as you
would CliffordAlgebra.

Aldor is a whole other story and I recommend you read up on it at
http://axiom-wiki.newsynthesis.org and/or consult the email archives.
To use it you definitely have to install additional software,
specifically Aldor itself which is not included in Axiom for licensing
reasons. There is also specific Aldor interface that needs to be
compiled if you want to use Aldor from inside Axiom.  Aldor itself can
be run as a stand alone general purpose language in addition to
serving as a potential replacement for Spad in Axiom.

Good luck and keep asking ...

Regards,
Bill Page.

On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 12:03 PM, Martin Baker <address@hidden> wrote:
> How do I get started modifying some of the spad code in axiom?
>
> What I wanted to do is add exterior and inner products to the clifford code in
> Axiom.  At this stage I just want to try things out and experiment with the
> minimum of fuss. I therefore cut and pasted the spad code from the clifford
> spad code in pamphlet 10.3 into a file I created called grassman.spad. I then
> renamed all occurrences of CliffordAlgebra to GrassmanAlgebra just so that the
> names did not clash with the existing code otherwise it is the existing
> working code.
>
> I then tried compiling it:
>
> (1) -> )compile axiom/grassman.spad
>
> This almost worked, it created a directory called GRAS.nrlib with some files
> in it, but there were some errors listed in it like this:
>
>   finalizing nrlib GRAS
>   Processing GrassmanAlgebra for Browser database:
> --------(e (% PI))---------
> --->-->GrassmanAlgebra((e (% PI))): Unexpected HT command: \spad
> "\\spad{e(n)} produces the appropriate unit element."
>
> I think this comes from this part of the source code:
>
>    T ==> Join(Ring, Algebra(K), VectorSpace(K)) with
>        e: PI -> %
>          ++ e(n) produces the appropriate unit element.
>
> I thought that this might be because I was using an old version of the
> compiler? So I renamed the file as: grassman.as
>
> Then I tried this:
>
> (1) -> )compile axiom/grassman.as
>   Compiling AXIOM source code from file axiom/grassman.as using
>      AXIOM-XL compiler and options
> -O -Fasy -Fao -Flsp -laxiom -Mno-AXL_W_WillObsolete -DAxiom -Y $AXIOM/algebra
>      Use the system command )set compiler args to change these
>      options.
> sh: NIL/bin/aldor: No such file or directory
>
> I assume the axiom that I downloaded does not contain aldor?
>
> So my questions are:
> Is this the best approach to take for a Axiom newbie? Is there an easier way?
> Do I need to use Aldor? Is there a binary version for opensuse? Where do I
> install it?
>
> Note: I am using the Axiom May 2009 code for openSUSE downloaded from:
> http://www.axiom-developer.org/axiom-website/download.html
>
> Martin
>
>
>
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