Megarom/Megarom Macintosh CD Software (Quantum Leap)(1992).iso/COMPRESS/Utilities/Text Programs/Mac⁄gnuucp/ALJABR Product Announcement

Text File | 1991-01-27 | 13.4 KB | 295 lines | [TEXT/ttxt]

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ALJABR PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT
===========================================================

          Fort Pond Research is pleased to announce the availability
of ALJABR.  ALJABR is derived from Project MAC's Symbolic
Manipulation System.  This computer algebra program was
developed by the Mathlab Group at M.I.T.'s   Laboratory for Computer
Science.  ALJABR is used for performing symbolic as well as numerical
mathematical manipulations.  Offering this classic computer algebra
product is consistent with Fort Pond Research's goal of providing
quality Lisp and symbolic programming technology at affordable
prices.

         With ALJABR the user can differentiate, integrate, take limits,
solve systems of linear or polynomial equations, factor polynomials,
expand functions in Laurent or Taylor series, solve differential equations
(using direct or transform methods), compute Poisson series, plot curves,
and manipulate matrices and tensors.  ALJABR has a high level language
permitting the user to extend ALJABR with his own programs for
transforming symbolic expressions.

          ALJABR is available to Macintosh users for $199.  The
Macintosh version runs in a 3.5 MB MultiFinder partition and requires
6 MB of hard disk storage.  The language reference manual will be
available in the first quarter 1991 (January - March) for $50.  Fort Pond
Research's ALJABR is interface equivalent to the M.I.T. computer algebra
program..  For those who have it, the MACSYMA Reference Manual
((c) 1983, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) would be adequate.
Workstation versions can also be arranged dependent upon market
demands.  Product support via Internet mailing lists.  Future plans
include porting ALJABR to PC DOS, as well as upgrading the user
interface and graphics.

          Other Fort Pond Research Macintosh products:  Franz Lisp 2.0
($199), Franz Lisp 2.0 and all sources ($649), and an electronic mail
program Mac/gnuucp ($30).  All Fort Pond Research products come
with a 60 day money back guarantee.  To order please send product
request and a check for full amount (Massachusetts residents add 6%
sales tax) to:

Fort Pond Research
15 Fort Pond Road
Acton, MA  01720

Your further questions or comments are always welcome.
Linda Gardner
Product Development
[e-mail]

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ALJABR PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
==============================================================
ALJABR Version 1.0      $199.00
Fort Pond Research, 15 Fort Pond Road, Acton, Massachusetts, 01720

A brief summary of the features and capabilities provided by Version 1.0
of the ALJABR program:

Algebra
*  Factor, expand and simplify multivariate expressions
*  Expression control through part extraction and substitution
*  Solve systems of algebraic real and transcendental equations
*  Compute with trigonometric and other elementary functions
*  Matrix algebra including computing minors, adjoint, rank,  transpose,
     determinant, eigenvectors, eigenvalues, triangularization, matrix
     exponentiation, and generalized matrix inverses
*  Continued fractions
*  Series, sums and products.  Computes Taylor, Laurent, Pade, and
    Poisson series
*  Computes Laplace transforms

Calculus
*  Limits, including directional limits
*  Differentiation
*  Definite and indefinite integration
*  Solve ordinary differential equations

Numerical Analysis
*  Arbitrary-precision floating point arithmetic and exact algebraic
    arithmetic
*  Numerical integration by the Romberg method
*  Generate Fortran code

User programmable and extensible
*  Pattern matching rule definition and editing facility
*  Syntax extension
*  Logical and relational operators
*  Conditionals IF... THEN... ELSE
*  Compound statements
*  Program Blocks
*  Iterative DO constructs ( including THRU, WHILE, and UNLESS)
*  Recursive and mutually recursive function definitions

Graphics
*  2D graphics including x-y plots, polar plots, contour plots, parametric
    plots

Documentation
*  ALJABR User Guide, includes installation instructions and user notes
*  ALJABR Language Reference Manual, fully documents over 500 commands
     and user options (available March, 1991  $50)

System Reliability
ALJABR has over 150 man-years of development behind it, mostly M.I.T.
Ph.D.’s in a variety of disciplines.  The M.I.T. computer algebra system,
Project MAC’s Symbolic Manipulation System, has been used as a serious
research tool for nearly 20 years.  The cumulative effect of this extensive
debugging effort is by far the most reliable tool in a field where reliability is
hard to attain.  Part of the reliability is traceable to the software design
approach.  ALJABR uses hard-coded algorithms wherever possible, relying
on pattern matching rules where hard-coded algorithms are not so
attractive.  Hard-coded algorithms are more expensive to implement, but
they deliver superior power, pinpoint control, and reliability, compared to
rules.
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ALJABR QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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Some questions frequently asked about ALJABR 1.0
January, 1991

I'm a bit confused about ALJABR for the Macintosh.
Is it an implementation of Macsyma for the Macintosh?  If so, why is it not
called Macsyma?
*****
During the 1970's and early 1980's, the Mathlab Group at the Computer Science
Laboratory at MIT developed and made available to many(!)
researchers their computer algebra system, Project MAC's SYmbolic
MAnipulation System.  In the early 1980’s, Symbolics, Inc was licensed by
MIT to develop and distribute this computer algebra system.  Symbolics
trademarked the product name "Macsyma".  MIT also delivered the "public
domain" copy  to DOE;  thus the DOE-Macsyma which is available for
media charges from the National Energy Software Center.  The agreement
between MIT and DOE was that DOE-Macsyma was to be distributed
only by the National Energy Software Center.  Neither Symbolics nor DOE
offer a Macintosh Macsyma.

Like Symbolics, Fort Pond Research holds a license from MIT to develop and
distribute the MIT computer algebra system.  Since Symbolics holds the
trademark to the name "Macsyma", we refer to our computer algebra
product by a different name.  ALJABR 1.0 is an implementation of the MIT
computer algebra system on the Macintosh.


What does it mean to be interface equivalent to the M.I.T. computer algebra
program?  Do you mean they are the same, or do you mean that the program
doesn't have a Mac interface?
*****
Interface equivalent means that ALJABR 1.0 has the same commands and
“look-feel” as the M.I.T. computer algebra program.  If you are an
experienced Macsyma user, you will find it easy to use ALJABR.  It also
means if you have Macsyma code, the chances are very, very good that it
will run in ALJABR.  It means that the MIT or Symbolics language reference
manuals would be helpful to you in using ALJABR.

With respect to a Mac interface, right now it is very simplistic.  You can
copy and paste from the command and output lines.  Running under
MultiFinder means that you can also communicate via the Clipboard.
Upgrading the interface to be more Mac-like is planned for the future
releases.


Is ALJABR 1.0 robust?
*****
ALJABR reflects the work of many people over many years (over
150 man-years of effort by mostly MIT  Ph.D's in a variety of disciplines.
The system has been used as a serious research tool for nearly 20 years.
The cumulative effect of this extensive debugging effort is by far the most
reliable tool in a field where reliability is hard to attain.  One of the
primary strengths of this system is its reliability and robustness .


There is a macsyma for unix that will run on top of unix lisps, say KCL.
Is ALJABR a similar a-macsyma-on-top-of-a-lisp combination.
*****
Yes.  ALJABR runs on top of Fort Pond Research's Franz Lisp 2.0 .

To put ALJABR on a Mac, you pay $199.(includes User Guide)
           + $50 per ALJABR Language Reference Manual
You "get" the underlying lisp.

Franz Lisp 2.0 ($199) is a separate product which we offer. It was ported
from the University of Calfornia a Berkley's 4.2 BSD UNIX distribution and
reflects numerous bug-fixes and enhancements increasing its reliability
and portability.  Franz Lisp 2.0 includes:  interpreter, compiler, assembler,
editor, language reference manual, installation guide, and user notes.
Runs on Macs with 2.5MB memory and 3MB on hard disk.  Runs under
MultiFinder in 1M partition and can take advantage of up to 5M partition.
Complete sources are also available (for $649.00 + if you want to sell
applications based upon it  2% royalty).

While I'm promoting Fort Pond Research's products, we also offer an
electronic mail program to Macintosh users -- Mac / gnuucp ($30).

“ALJABR has a high level language permitting the user to extend
ALJABR with his own programs for transforming symbolic expressions.”

What is the high level language?  A lisp?
*****
Included in ALJABR are ALGOL-like programming constructs such as
blocks, do loops, if-then-else, etc.  The ALJABR user can write ALJABR
code, save and run it, with a debugging environment available.

A serious lisp user might be interested also in purchasing Franz Lisp 2.0.
Then he could approach symbolic programming on two levels, ALJABR's
Algol-like high level language and lisp programming.  The user could code
and compile Franz Lisp code which is call-able from ALJABR.  A further
option is purchasing the Franz Lisp sources.  The lisp kernel is coded in
Lightspeed C.  Arbitrary C code can be put into the kernel and called from
ANY of the other layers.

Can I get ALJABR for a Unix system?
*****
If there is sufficient demand, we would like to offer ALJABR on Unix
platforms.  Our projected pricing of a Unix ALJABR 1.0 is @$500.

Technically producing a Unix version is not difficult, however we are in
the position of trying to financially bootstrap ourselves.  Sweat equity
does not buy equipment!  Right now we would choose the SUN Sparc
platform to be first.  We need a way to muster @$20,000 to produce the
Unix ALJABR product.

With respect to pricing a Unix product.  $500 for a workstation product is
what our advisers (mainly academics) suggest.  This buys a mature,
full-featured ALJABR, but would not get the kind of support workstation
users are probably accustomed to.  Extensive user support services is
something we would arrange with user sites, on a case by case basis,
somewhat like a consulting arrangement.

What Macintosh configuration would you recommend?
*****
We have run extensive demos on a Mac Plus with 4MB .  It runs fine but
is slow compared to the Mac II.  The only area where the memory
limitation was a factor was with definite integration.  Some problems ran.
The more complicated ones ran out of memory.  These problems ran with
no difficulty on a Mac II with 6MB.  To the best of our knowledge 4MB is
adequate for most purposes, but more would be needed for those who
wanted to do definite integration.  There are ways for an ALJABR user
to "tune" his memory usage so as not to spend inordinate time in garbage
collection, but that does not solve the problem of needing more memory.

The ALJABR Language Reference Manual ($50.00) won’t be available
until March, 1991.  Can you make a temporary reference manual
available to us?
*****
If you have any (MIT or Symbolics) Macsyma language reference
manuals, you would be adequately served until ours is ready.

If you would like, we can purchase a set of M.I.T. manuals (3 volumes
for $36.00 + $10.00 shipping and handling) and ship them to you.
Likewise you might prefer to order directly from the MIT Laboratory for
Computer Science, Publications Ofc.

We have a huge (410K MacWrite document) online file which is part
of the as yet to be implemented online documentation system.  This
is part of the base system and has not been thoroughly verified.
It is essentially an alphabetical listing of system commands and keywords.
There is virtually no cross-referencing.  It also has references to
other than Macintosh platforms.  We could provide this file to you
on disk with ALJABR 1.0 at no additional cost.

What is the update policy?
*****
For purchasers of ALJABR 1.0 only, updates will be available for $25-$75,
depending upon the extent of new hardcopy documentation.  This would
not preclude our coming out with additional manuals.  For example, after
the ALJABR Language Reference Manual is completed, we would like to
publish a detailed ALJABR Programmer's Guide which would be a
"new product", not included in the update policy.

For purchasers of later versions, updates will be available  for
approximately half the purchase price of the new release.  For example, a
user who purchased ALJABR 2.0($199) could upgrade to ALJABR 3.0 ($250)
for approximately $125.

Are there any educational discounts for ALJABR?  Will it be sold at all
through distributors, or exclusively direct from Fort Pond Research?
*****
Currently, ALJABR is available exclusively direct from Fort Pond Research.
We are actively exploring possible arrangements with distributors,
including arrangements for educational discounts.  If you have any ideas
regarding marketing or distribution, we would welcome them.

I would like to get started looking at ALJABR. Can you send me info on how
to place our university PO?
*****
Purchase orders for ALJABR 1.0 ($199.00) and/or
ALJABR Language Reference Manual ($50.00 available 3/91)
should be made out to (and mailed to):

Fort Pond Research
15 Fort Pond Road
Acton, Massachusetts  01720
(508)  263-9692