In what area would you like to see new Maple developments?

Comments

Tim Vrablik's picture

Comments

I know the topics are quite broad, but please feel free to comment with specific areas.

choice

Because radio buttons allow but one choice maybe the question should be changed to "In What area would you like to new Maple development." I'd prefer to be able to select more than one area.

results

Could a Results link be added right next to the Vote button, on the main page?

New development

My vote is for math algorithms.

The priority for documentation, I think, is improvement of the available help pages.

Interface - Improved GUI: it depends on your interpretation. For me it means restart the development of the Classic GUI. Eg, make it available for 64-bit platforms.

Robert Israel's picture

New or old

I agree: I chose Math Algorithms as the main priority.  Development of the GUI is good if it means fixing what is broken, not putting in new bells and whistles.

Vote again?

I have voted and I am logged in, but I have got the option to vote again..

Can I put another vote for math algorithms? :)

alec's picture

All of the above

I agree that it should be possible to select more than one topic. Also, there should be "All of the above" choice.

All the choices seem kinda strange though. My choices would be something like

  • Management
  • Sales
  • R & D
  • Customer Support
  • Human Resources
  • All of the Above
  • Users

Alec

Axel Vogt's picture

My 2 Cents

1. For me a CAS is for doing or applying Math, where a correct and
usable, up-to-date documentation is 'Le must' for even handling it.
A simple interface for I/O and moderate plots is enough. A better
one is good, but not at the costs of essentials due to economics
(which is to square the circle).

2. I do not have any needs for publishing or niceties (spelling?),
it just should be readable for non-Mapleianians (as pdf print).
Find a partner, may be even some academic institution, based on
reduced functionality - open for post-processing. Techniques may
change, especially in a commercial market.

3. How ever thinks that Students should learn or cheat through a
CAS - this person never seriously worked as teacher. But to *use*
it for learning: yes! So it is a difficult task, but a priori off
any sophisticated implementation.

4. Hopefully the result would be attractive enough, that like for
Matlab real contributions are available - and not only some nice
but non-essentail snippets as concurrently (no personal offence
intended, just provocating) at the application center.


Dispite that I always agree with commercial needs and accept some
discount for a compromise (which currently seems to be taken at
77.3% by Maple ...)


PS: Alec's sarcastic comment caused a big, dirty grin - enjoyed it. 


roman_pearce's picture

performance

Put me down for "performance in general". CPUs are not getting faster. The GUI is way too slow. The library is often slow. Everything is too slow, even on a new computer.

JacquesC's picture

Wrong questions

I would much much rather see all the broken stuff fixed, the half-implemented stuff finished, the old designs modernized, all of it properly documented, than any new feature.  A few obviously missing features might be added (PDF printing for example), but that's more like fixing a bug than a new feature!

I won't hold my breath though.  It's much easier to peddle new features (whether they are useful or not) than to try to sell a new version where 'quality' was the main concern, or so I am told. 

If Maplesoft proves me wrong, ie by putting out a new release which is all about 'quality' and has essentially no new features, I'll start using Standard.

alec's picture

Definitions

Whatever you are going to do with the documentation, please don't touch the Definitions. They are one of my favorite parts of Maple. When you are in a bad mood - read one of them, randomly chosen, and laugh for 15 minutes. Non-mathematicians won't understand that, probably, though (like blondes might don't understand some of blonde jokes.)

Alec

Who are the blondes?

in your analogy. The authors of these Definition pages?

alec's picture

Whoever they are

Whoever they are, they certainly didn't go through usual training that mathematicians have to pass. Did you see the definittion of helicoid? I couldn't stand when I saw that. Such an answer on an exam wouldn't probably, count even for an F. It may be OK for non-mathematicians though - I can't tell. Anyway, that beats my favorite blonde's joke:

- What do you think is closer, Florida or the Moon?

- Helloooo, Can you see Florida?

Alec

Axel Vogt's picture

technical writers

In other areas "technical writers" do such stuff and it has to pass quality assurance - where it becomes difficult, since often those who are to judge the text find it too boring to do so (or the writers do not show it to the 'Gods' for social reasons). Nobody likes to write docus if s/he can do more interesting things ... "pah - paper work!"

non-mathematicians

is most part of the humanity, which is too diverse. This definition for helicoid may be OK for some and not for others. Such an answer on an exam would probably count at most for 1 (in a range up to 10) in a exam of Physics. But it could be OK for some Engineers. I will not prejudge.

This is presented as "Mathematics and Engineering Dictionary" (not Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, etc).  May be that this definition is just incomplete, missing the Mathematics part.

 

alec's picture

Definitions

In Mathematics, word "Definition" has a precise sense and definitions should satisfy same qualities - in particular, be unambiguous, and be useful. The usual way of a mathematical text is something like a definition, an example, a theorem, another example, then another definition etc.

Look at this particular example, with helicoid defined as "any solid or surface shaped like a screw thread." First, it is not precise - one can't tell from it what is a helicoid, and what is not. Second, it is wrong - a helicoid is not a solid, it is a surface, of very specific kind (and not shaped like a screw thread whatever that could mean.) Third, it is useless. What kind of a theorem could be proven with such a definition - "All helicoids are screwed"?

It may be better seen with an analogy - I didn't look at the definition of an ellipsoid there - but if it was constructed in the same way, it would look like "any solid or surface shaped like an egg." Which is again not precise, wrong, and useless.

Alec

PS What is the purpose of this dictionary? To help students and other people using Maple to solve their problems? I met this example recently looking at the post on this site asking how to plot a helicoid. My first instinct was to look at the help pages and to give a reference to the help page with such a plot. However, searching full text (in Help) for helicoid, I found only that definition. That's why I laughed, maybe, more than usual, reading it. How it can be used for help with the plot? -Alec

What is the purpose of this dictionary?

?Definition

Mathematics and Engineering Dictionary

Maple contains definitions for more than 5000 mathematical and engineering terms.

Portions of the material in this dictionary are used with the permission of MathResources Inc.

I see it as a "bonus" encyclopedia that is worth for what is worth. I think that the keyword "Definition" in this context is misleading, as it is not intended, in general, in the sense of Mathematics, as you explain.

Eg. you cannot prove any result in General Relativity just by reading ?Definition,relativitytheory or ?Definition,Einstein

PS I see the page ?Definition,ellipsoid. It is more mathematical-like: it does not talk about eggs (though better it would be rugby balls as the eggs do not have the same symmetry). It seems as if it has a different documentation source. Sure, this Dictionary is a potpurri.

alec's picture

Wiki

That's another thing that could be significantly improved through a wiki, by the way (and without much of expenses.)  Wikipedia entry for helicoid is good (but Eric Weisstein's Helicoid article from MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource is better.)

Unfortunately, as we know, Maplesoft didn't go that way.

Alec

JacquesC's picture

The problem with this

The problem with the Dictionary is that the definitions that it uses and the ones that Maple uses are not always the same!  And the differences are not documented anywhere.  So the Dictionary can often be very misleading as a Maple resource.

GUI

I think the most important thing for Maple to improve is its appaling GUI, and the absurd amount of CPU and memory it uses. I have used Maple for years for many kinds of applications, so know the program quite well. I can't move to Maple 12 because they have cut off support for the old interface in Windows.

I currently use Maple 11 on a MacBook Pro, but the interface is so useless I have to use the windows classic interface on a windows emulator - and I still get better performance than using their Java interface natively. If I am writing a Maple worksheet for any length of time the memory and CPU of the interface can sometimes take over the whole system, and this is on a fairly decent computer. I have tried to use it for classroom teaching, but have found it very slow [not to mention full of niggling bugs] that I have stopped. I would like to use Maple TA extensively but fear the same problems would occur, and I don't want 500 students complaining about having to use something so slow.

I can no longer consider any upgrades until the classic worksheet is reinstigated or the GUI radically improved. Why is it written in java anyway?

New Maple Developments

i would like to see new Maple developments in the area of optimization. The ability to analyze existing code and have optimization strategies enumerated and/or suggested would be most helpful.

hi i'd like to see better

hi

i'd like to see better graphing -printing out multiple graphs is always messy

better online documentation (or a decent txtbook), current online documentation can be v heavy going and there is no book with much information about programming etc

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