RE: [Axiom-developer] Lazy re-evaluation (was: More AxiomUI)

[Page, Bill]

On Thursday, June 23, 2005 2:35 AM William Sit wrote:

> Bill Page wrote: 
>> 2-d editing might be possible if we can use mathML. In that case
>> it is possible to select displayed 2-d sub-expressions, modify them
>> with a few keystrokes (e.g. by typing the corresponding linear 1-d
>> sub-expression).
>> ...
> You know what, I agree 100% with you on this. But you misunderstood
> my interpretation of 2D editing (well I guess was not clear). I mean
> the ability to edit "previous input lines in a 2D-way". This means
> being able to jump to (mouse to?) an input line on screen, edit this
> in a 2D way (screen editing, like what can be done even in vi).
> I do not mean the extra fancy things like selecting subexpression
> from outputs! Yes, M and M allow that, but they don't work well
> precisely for the reason you mentioned. (Derive did it really well).
 
Oh, I see. I am sorry that I did not understand what you meant.

Yes, this sort to "2-d editing" is exactly what I have been
writing about - the ability to pick some mathematical expression
displayed on the computer screen from a larger mathematical
document, the contents of which have been partly generated
by the user (in the normal way with LaTeX notation or whatever)
and partly generated by an interface to Axiom. Just like what
you see on the MathAction wiki, but with the additional ability
to pick out and edit the commands that generated individual
equations and Axiom output.

Even without the kind of "2-d editing" that we agree is not very
useful in Maple and Mathematica, I think it is possible to do a
good job of designing an easy to use browser-based user interface
that allows the LaTeX and Axiom commands to be edited in their
common text form. After editing, these commands would then need to
be re-executed. It is in this context that Bob McElrath and I have
been defending the idea of "lazy re-evaluation" as a way to update
the document after such changes are made.

Cheers,
Bill Page.