On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 3:17 PM, Tim Daly <d...@axiom-developer.org> wrote: > In addition, I believe that a computational mathematics > language has to have a strong connection to the underlying > mathematics. In Axiom's case, abstract algebra provides the > mathematical framework for providing categories around which > the algorithms are structured. Sage does not seem to have a > strong scaffold for adding new packages. It appears to be > growing by accretion.
The Sage library does have a framework for providing categories around which algorithms are structured, thanks to work of David Kohel (back in 2005), Nicolas Thierny (last year), and many others over the years. There is also a coercion model that automates the construction of natural maps between different modules, rings, etc., which Robert Bradshaw, Craig Citro, David Roe, and others, designed and implemented. The categories framework and coercion model together provide said framework. Most of it didn't exist 3 years ago. > I think the Sage language designers could steal a few useful > ideas from the Spad language. I'm sure the design and implementation of Python is heavily influenced by other languages... > I also find the Python/Lisp debate useless. In Axiom, Lisp is > the implementation language but you can use Axiom for years and > not know that because Spad is the computational algorithm language. > > In Sage there is confusion about the implementation language of > Python and the computational mathematics language built in Python > which appears not to have a name. It is called "The Sage Library". It's a Python library that one gets by typing "import sage" at the Python prompt. > The claim that Python is an exceptional language for computation > mathematics or is exceptional as a "glue" language completely ignores > history which tends to make us old people cranky. The claim does not ignore history, since a big part of this claim is that there are a large number of Python users, and a big ecosystem of code that is usable easily from Python. That is the result of "history", i.e., things that happened in the past. Thank you history. If Python had few users and the set of libraries available for Python were tiny, then it would look very unattractive. -- William -- William Stein Professor of Mathematics University of Washington http://wstein.org -- To post to this group, send an email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to sage-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URL: http://www.sagemath.org
