Re: [Axiom-developer] OpenMath

[root]

Mike Dewar wrote:
> There are two separate issues here.  The first is the problem of reading
> and writing streams of OpenMath tokens.  It is this which uses the
> underlying C Library code (which by the way will probably be obsolote
> soon: we are hoping to finalise OpenMath 2 in the next week or two).
> The second is the question of serialising Axiom objects in OpenMath
> encodings.  This is done in Axiom code via the OpenMath category, but is
> only implemented for a few domains.

Where can I get the new library?

Mike Dewar wrote:
> > Tim Daly wrote
> > Actually, I'm writing up the (new) quarterly Axiom report and this
> > is something we eventually need. I think we could get part way there
> > with a (latex -> dvi -> advi -> borderless miniwindow) kind of hack.
> Why bother?  MMA's output mechanism is identical to that of presentation
> MathML (they basically donated it to the W3C group), so if you got Axiom
> to generate presentation MathML instead of OutputFormat then you could
> use Mozilla or Internet Explorer (or any other MathML viewer) to display
> your mathematical output.  It would be much faster than going via dvi,
> and provide some limited cut-and-paste interoperability with Mathematica
> and MathML.


It is clear from numerous discussions that Axiom needs to develop a
notebook-like interface. Several people told me that they don't use
Axiom specifically because it lacks a notebook.

So, what are the choices? 

MMA uses ascii text as their notebook representation. It would be useful
to generate "compatible" input/output so we could use the same front-end.
However, the front-end is closed, proprietary, and expensive. Donating
the representation of the math to W3C doesn't address the real issue.

I can't use the Maple front-end for the same reasons.

I'd like to use Integre's (formerly IBM's) techexplorer and MathML editor
but their license specifically states that I can't:

        The license rights granted hereunder are limited to
  non-commercial personal use of the Software. Without limitation, the
  license rights granted hereunder DO NOT include the right to use the
  Software from within a commercial third-party application that
  requires use of the Software, unless that third party publisher has
  purchased a distribution license from Integre. Please contact Integre
  with questions about use of the Software within third party
  applications.

Thus I'm left with no choice but to waste a year of my life drawing
pretty pictures of characters on a screen. OpenMath and MathML only
address a very small portion of the problem and, worse yet, add limits
to the data representation I can choose. And I don't see how to carry
Axiom's Types in OpenMath's data representation. Another incompatible
notebook simply fragments the computational mathematics domain into
yet another pointless "camp". Believe me, I'd much rather spend my 
time using other people's work and get on with making the math better.

frustrated in ny,
Tim