User Friendly Reviews of Computer Algebra Systems
Date: July 20th (Saturday)
Time: 08:30-08:52.5
Abstract
So far, comparative reviews of computer algebra systems have, for the most part,
consisted of lists of implemented packages with a sampling of related bugs. Organizing this
information into a coherent whole must begin with an explicit model of the users and what
they do with and expect from the systems. "Scores" must be accompanied by a description of
the attributes of the yardstick user: her skill level, her model and use of the computer algebra
system (oracle, table book, compute engine, high level programming language, teaching aid,
driver for numerical or graphics libraries...), her willingness to hand hold and check answers
(for some users, a wrong answer which can easily be found to be wrong may be quite
acceptable, unlike one which is quite difficult to "back plug"), the size of typical problems...
Some "yardstick users" and their attributes will be presented.
