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Encyclopedia > Macsyma
MACSYMA Reference Manual, MIT, 1977
MACSYMA Reference Manual, MIT, 1977

Macsyma is a computer algebra system that was originally developed from 1967 to 1982 at MIT as part of Project MAC and later marketed commercially. It was the first comprehensive symbolic mathematics system and one of the earliest expert systems; many of its ideas were later adopted by Mathematica, Maple, and other systems. Image File history File links Macsyma. ... Image File history File links Macsyma. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a research and educational institution located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is a world leader in science and technology, as well as in many other fields, including management, economics, linguistics, political science, and philosophy. ... A computer algebra system (CAS) is a software program that facilitates symbolic mathematics. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Project MAC, later the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS), was a research laboratory at MIT. Project MAC would become famous for groundbreaking research in operating systems, artificial intelligence, and the theory of computation. ... An expert system is a class of computer programs developed by researchers in artificial intelligence during the 1970s and applied commercially throughout the 1980s. ...


The project was initiated by William A. Martin (polynomial arithmetic), Carl Engelman, and Joel Moses (indefinite integration, simplifier) in July, 1968. Additional early work was contributed by many including J.P. Golden,R. W. Gosper, R. Schroeppel, Jon L. White, P. Loewe, T. Williams, Richard Fateman (rational functions, pattern matching, arbitrary precision floating-point), R. Zippel (power series), and Paul Wang (polynomial factoring limits, definite integrals). William A. Martin (b. ... Professor Joel Moses received his undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Columbia University and a masters degree in Mathematics, also from Columbia. ... R. William Gosper, Jr. ... Richard Fateman is a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. ...


Macsyma was written in Maclisp, and was, in some cases, a key motivator for improving that dialect of lisp in the areas of numerical computing and efficient compilation. Maclisp itself ran primarily on PDP-6 and PDP-10 computers, but also on the Multics OS and on the Lisp Machine architectures. Macsyma was one of the largest, if not the largest Lisp program of the time. Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) was an extraordinarily influential early time-sharing operating system. ... An operating system is a special computer program that manages the relationship between application software, the wide variety of hardware that makes up a computer system, and the user of the system. ... The original Lisp machine built by Greenblatt and Knight Lisp machines were general-purpose computers designed (usually through hardware support) to efficiently run Lisp as their main software language. ...


In 1981, Moses and Richard Pavelle, an MIT staffer and proponent of applying Macsyma to engineering and science, proposed to form a company to commercialize Macsyma. However, MIT invoked an apparently novel policy preventing MIT personel from profiting from MIT developments. In early 1982, Macsyma was licensed by MIT to Arthur D. Little, Inc., which became the broker for Macsyma and soon licensed Macsyma to Symbolics in late 1982, thereby keeping Macsyma out of the software catalog of its competitor in the Lisp Machine business, LMI. The business arrangement between Symbolics and Arthur D. Little required a royalty payment to ADL of 15% of Macsyma gross sales. This led to speculation on the desire of MIT and ADL to see MACSYMA prosper. Pavelle ran the MACSYMA division at Symbolics. The development of Macsyma continued at Symbolics despite the fact that it was seen as an diversion from the sales of Lisp machines, which Symbolics considered to be their main business. Macsyma sales and the leveraged sales of Lisp Machines reached 10% of overall sales at Symbolics within two years. However, pressure from within Symbolics soon led to the demise of Macsyma. Infighting between Symbolics founders and lack of business understanding soon led to the demise of Symbolics. When Symbolics folded, so too did the Macsyma division. Arthur D. Little, Inc. ... LMI can mean one of : Liberty Media International Linux Mark Institute Lisp Machines, Inc. ... The original Lisp machine built by Greenblatt and Knight Lisp machines were general-purpose computers designed (usually through hardware support) to efficiently run Lisp as their main software language. ...


Eventually Macsyma was also released for DEC VAX-11 computers and Sun Microsystems workstations using Berkeley's Franz Lisp. Digital Equipment Corporation was a pioneering company in the American computer industry. ... VAX is a 32-bit computing architecture that supports an orthogonal instruction set (machine language) and virtual addressing (i. ... Sun Microsystems, Inc. ... Franz Lisp, written at UC Berkeley by the students of Professor Richard J. Fateman, was a Lisp system based larged on Maclisp, but written specifically to be a host for running Macsyma on a Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) VAX. It appeared on the scene at the end of 1978 shortly...


In 1982, under pressure from contributor Richard Fateman, then at UC Berkeley, MIT licensed a copy of Macsyma to the United States Department of Energy, one of the major funders of Macsyma development. This version of Macsyma was called DOE Macsyma. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy and nuclear safety. ...


Macsyma, Inc., was founded in 1992 by Russell Noftkser (who had co-founded Symbolics). Macsyma Inc then purchased all rights to the Macsyma program away from the ailing Symbolics Inc. Under Richard Petti, Macsyma Inc accelerated its technical development and improved appearances, especially under Windows. Under heavy competition from Mathematica and Maple, Macsyma lost market share. In 1999, Macsyma was acquired by Tenedos LLC, a holding company. At present the holding company has not rereleased or resold Macsyma, but it continues to be distributed by Symbolics. 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Symbolics is a privately held company that acquired the assets of the now-defunct computer manufacturer Symbolics, Inc. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...


There is also a free (as in "Free Speech") and open source version, called Maxima, which is based on the 1982 version of the DOE Macsyma, subsequently adapted for Common Lisp and enhanced by W. Schelter. It is under active development, and can be compiled under several Common Lisp systems. Downloadable executables for Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX and other systems, including graphical user interfaces are available. Free software, as defined by the Free Software Foundation, is software which can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed without restriction. ... The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... For other uses of Maxima, see Maxima (disambiguation). ... Common Lisp, commonly abbreviated CL, is a dialect of the Lisp programming language, standardised by ANSI X3. ... Tux is the official Linux mascot. ... Microsoft Windows is a series of popular proprietary operating environments and operating systems created by Microsoft for use on personal computers and servers. ... Mac OS X is an operating system developed and sold by Apple Computer which is included with all currently shipping Apple Macintosh computers. ... A graphical user interface (or GUI, sometimes pronounced gooey) is a method of interacting with a computer through a metaphor of direct manipulation of graphical images and widgets in addition to text. ...


External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Macsyma 2.4 Main (221 words)
Macsyma autoloads all library files, so you don't need to remember file names of when to load.
Macsyma provides a broad, accessible portfolio of mathematical capabilities and solves more problems correctly than any other math software.
Macsyma is more affordable than any of the other major mathematics packages.
Macsyma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (667 words)
Macsyma was written in Maclisp, and was, in some cases, a key motivator for improving that dialect of lisp in the areas of numerical computing and efficient compilation.
In early 1982, Macsyma was licensed by MIT to Arthur D. Little, Inc., which became the broker for Macsyma and soon licensed Macsyma to Symbolics in late 1982, thereby keeping Macsyma out of the software catalog of its competitor in the Lisp Machine business, LMI.
Macsyma, Inc., was founded in 1992 by Russell Noftkser (who had co-founded Symbolics).
  More results at FactBites »


 

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