[Axiom-developer] Axiom and OpenMath/MathMl]

[Bill Page]

I really intended this for axiom-developer. I am sorry if
you receive it in duplicate. Oh well...

> 
> From: Bill Page <address@hidden>
> Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 23:46:31 -0500
> To: <address@hidden>
> Subject: [Axiom-mail] Axiom and OpenMath/MathMl
> 
> Hello,
> 
> While toiling with details of cr/lf in Windows versus
> Linux, I have continued to ponder the longer term issue of
> an appropriate graphical mathematical notation for open
> source Axiom. Given the enormous amount of effort that
> is currently devoted to a modern replacement for LaTex
> in the form of MathML and OpenMath and in spite of the
> still overwhelmingly prevalent use of LaTex, I think it
> would be prudent to consider incorporating such a new
> approach into Axiom soon after the availability of simle
> character interface. It seems that work in this direction
> is already quite advanced. See for example the paper by
> Stephane Dalmas, Marc Gaetano and Stephen Watt:
> 
>   http://www.orcca.on.ca/~watt/papers/i97omath.pdf
> 
> An OpenMath 1.0 Implementation
> 
> Abstract
> 
> The first official version of the OpenMath specification
> was released in December. This paper presents the first
> imple mentation of this standard, in the form of a C
> library. To ensure a faithful realization, a second,
> independent implementation with the same api was built
> using Aldor (A#)...
> 
> ---------
> 
> See more about OpenMath at
> 
>   http://www.openmath.org/cocoon/openmath/index.html
> 
> Note in particular:
> 
>   http://www.openmath.org/cocoon/openmath/software/index.html
> 
> "A phrasebook for AXIOM 2.3 <http://www.nag.co.uk/>was
> shipped with the system"
> 
> ---------
> 
> And here is an excellent introduction to both OpenMath
> and MathML by O. Caprotti and D. Carlisle 
> 
>   http://www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds6-2/openmath.html
> 
> OpenMath and MathML:
> Semantic Mark Up for Mathematics 
> 
> Abstract
> 
> Unambiguous representation of mathematics is crucial for
> communications among humans or among computer systems.
> OpenMath is a standard aimed at supporting a semantically
> rich interchange of mathematics among varied computational
> software tools such as computer algebra systems, theorem
> provers, and tools for visualizing or editing mathematical
> text. MathML is a W3C Recommendation for the encoding of
> mathematics `on the web' which also includes mechanisms
> for encoding mathematical semantics. We introduce each of
> these two languages and describe their relationships. 
> 
> ---------
> 
> Finally, to ask a direct question: I was wondering what
> level of support/encouragement for doing something with
> open source Axiom and OpenMath among the potential
> Axiom volunteer developers? I think Tim Daly has already
> (more or less) cast his vote in favor of doing the text
> interface first (of course) and then a LaTex-oriented
> interface for graphical output along the lines of the
> old NAG techexplorer GUI. Right Tim? What do other people
> here think?
> 
> Regards,
> Bill Page.
>