[kde-edu]: Dylon: New developer in training (Dylon Edwards)

Dylon Edwards integr8e at gmail.com
Sun Dec 28 02:39:05 CET 2008


Thanks Riccardo; I recently tried Sage, but it errored out with a message
that some research showed is a bug that was supposed to have been fixed with
the latest release :P  I haven't gotten around to trying an older release,
yet, because compiling Sage takes forever and a half...

Aleix, I'm looking into KOffice's Flake shape library now, what exactly are
you looking for in a Maxima Flake?  Can it not already render MathML
objects?

I want to create a WYSIWYG editor that will simplify the creation of
mathematical documents and solve/plot mathematical expressions; if you
haven't had a professor assign you homework to be completed in Maple or
Mathematica, when you don't have such software at home, you're very
fortunate (it really pretty much sucks).  My objective is to create a
mathematical learning environment ( MLE :) useful to both the mathematical
genius and your everyday algebraic n00b; something that will solve
expressions as simple as 1+2*3, while being capable of running CPU intensive
Physics simulations (Step ???), balancing Chemistry equations, solving
vector matrices, and integrating multi-variable expressions.  It will
provide the solution to almost any expression entered, and should the user
desire, explain how it was derived (my teachers all through grade school
frowned upon the use of calculators because they can't explain their
solutions).  It will be plugin-oriented, with the ability to completely
change its look and feel through various addons and would be able to save
each user-defined "profile" individually.  Thus, it would have a very
flexible GUI able of being everything from a calculator, to a WYSIWYG
document editor, to a scripting IDE, all within the same application, and
each with the same capabilities as the other (only friendlier toward their
intended purposes).  Such an application will definitely take some time to
develop, and to reduce the maintenance nightmare, will require the
implementation of many already existing open-source projects, but I'm
willing to work toward such a goal.

I've decided to work with Maxima, because in its current state, KAlgebra
cannot handle my math requirements.  Next semester I will be taking Calc
III, which introduces all sorts of mult-variable integration funness, and
will shortly be taking Diff Eq's and Linear and/or Abstract Algebra, which
introduce all sorts of other kool' things.  However, KAlgebra may very well
be able to deal with those one day, which is why I want to implement a
mathematical API capable of handling multiple backends (so if one can't
handle something, it will be passed to the next).

Sage sounds close to what I'm wanting to create, only it requires the use of
a web browser and expects you to already know what you're doing.  What I
want to do is create an application that will not in any way inhibit you if
you happen to know what you're doing, but will be easy for anyone to pick
up, something "n00b friendly, but 1337 oriented."

-- 
Dylon Edwards
SSWJ - Stay(ing) Strong With Jesus, Always
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