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Why Maple 10?

Heather 0 Maple
August 12 2005
0
As moderator of the How Do I?? (Newbies) forum, I thought I would post some information for my viewers. As a somewhat "Newbie" to Maple myself, I thought I'd boast about how amazing I think Maple 10 is (and no... this is not just because I work for Maplesoft ;). My first experience using Maple was a year ago, when I started with Maple 9.5. As expected, like any scientific software, there was a learning curve that I had to conquer. The resources I found most helpful in my learning process included:
  • New Users Tour (in Maple, click Help -> Take a Tour of Maple) - Introduced me to Maple syntax, and other basic Maple knowledge
  • Manuals (www.maplesoft.com/products/maple/manuals) - 'nuff said
  • Maple Help Pages (in Maple, execute ?command_name to launch a help page) - I could search and browse on any topic to learn more about it
  • Application Center (www.maplesoft.com/applications/index.aspx) - I could browse a variety of topics to find a collection of worksheets created by actual Maple users. This helped me to understand the scope of what Maple was capable of doing and also become more familiar with how Maple was used.
With the release of our latest product, Maple 10, I feel that my Maple skills have increased ten-fold. There are a few main reasons for this: 1) Intuitiveness - With the addition of "Document Mode" to Maple 10, it really is as simple as opening the program and entering math. The fact that we are no longer forced to input at a command prompt or end our statements with a semi-colon makes it far easier for beginners to understand since it is less like a "programming language". 2) Context menus - Although context menus existed in Maple 9.5, I am sad to say that I didn't actually know about them. With Maple 10, context menus are far easier to use (and find!) since they are available with pretty much any expression you input, without having to press the [Enter] key first. Context menus can take a new user very very far, without having to know a single Maple command (something I wish I'd known more about when I first started off). 3) Palettes - Although palettes existed in Maple 9.5 as well, they are easier to use, and there are more of them. My favourite one is the Symbol Recognition palette which furthers my ability to work in Maple without having to use a single command. 4) 2D Math editor - Maple 10 introduces a new 2-D math editor which is much much nicer and easier to use. And since Document mode defaults to 2-D math input, everything I type looks like it "should", in standard math notation. If you are new to Maple, you should definitely check out the things I've listed above. Some more things to check out include the Maple Demo Videos and the Online Training Courses designed for new users. Happy Learning!
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