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<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Preliminary Report on OpenMath Workshop 1</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>Preliminary Report on OpenMath Workshop 1</H1>
Thanks to Stefan Vorkoetter for supplying these notes.
<P>
The workshop was held on 17-18 December 1993 at ETH Zurich.
A <A HREF="participants-1.html">list of participants</A> is available.
<H3>Purpose</H3>
A workshop to formulate a character based standard for the exchange
of mathematical formulas and other mathematical objects between
programs.
<H3>Notes on the presentations</H3>
For any presentations accompanied by paper(s), we omit detail here
and refer the reader to the paper(s).
<P>
<B>Gaston Gonnet</B> gave an introduction to OpenMath, and outlined some of
the requirements that such a protocol must have in order to function
in arbitrary environments. Some of these requirements are:
<UL>
<LI> text (character) based
<LI> can be sent by electronic mail
<LI> a limit on line length
<LI> extensible
</UL>
<P>
<B>Chris Howlett</B> outlined Waterloo Maple Software's plans for OpenMath:
<UL>
<LI> committed to implementing a client/server math architecture
for Maple during 1994
<LI> need a standard such as OpenMath to ensure utility and
acceptance; input from and agreement of a large group is essential
</UL>
<P>
<B>Stefan Vorkoetter</B> described the current OpenMath proposal, as put
forward by Waterloo Maple Software. During the ensuing discussion,
some weaknesses and Maple-specific aspects were discovered:
<UL>
<LI> choice of data structures too Maple-biased
<LI> how to decide which operators/functions to include
</UL>
<P>
<B>Heikki Apiola</B> described ESC, an Environment for Scientific
Computation, which combines various mathematical tools.
<P>
<B>Wolfgang Weck</B> described his concept of a math protocol, based on
modular decomposition and type extension:<BR>
"A Module Library for Computer Algebra", Dominik Gruntz, Wolfgang Weck (submitted to ISSAC 94).
<P>
<B>Marc Gaetano</B> described the ASAP protocol:<BR>
"Designing a protocol for exchanging mathematical objects", S. Dalmas, M. Gaetano, A. Sausse<BR>
"The ASAP Protocol: a description", S. Dalmas, M. Gaetano, A. Sausse<BR>
"A C library for ASAP", S. Dalmas, A. Sausse
<P>
<B>Carlo Traverso</B> described POSSO:<BR>
"The POSSO External Data Representation", J. Abbott, C. Traverso
<P>
<B>Norbert Kajler</B> spoke on building a computer algebra environment. He
described the SAFIR project and CAS/PI:<BR>
"Building a Computer Algebra Environment by Composition of Collaborative Tools", Norbert Kajler
<P>
<B>Mika Seppala</B> gave a brief historical review of EuroMath.
<H3>Discussions</H3>
<UL>
<LI><B>Syntax</B>
<UL>
<LI> general agreement (expression trees in LISP-like notation).
<LI> modifying the proposed standard seemed to be acceptable.
<LI> it was agreed that the sequences defined by SGML standard
would be adopted for special characters.
<LI> there is still the issue of which escape character to use.
</UL>
<LI><B>Semantics</B>
<UL>
<LI> it was agreed that the basic proposal should support all the
functions in Abramowitz and Stegun, Chapters 1 to 3.
<LI> the standard should allow for the definition of packages of
functions as extensions.
</UL>
<LI><B>Attributes</B>
<UL>
<LI> basic attributes do not belong in the standard, but rather in
packages (eg. a package of typesetting attributes).
</UL>
<LI><B>Types</B>
the proposal from WMS had too many Maple-specific types. The
following base types were suggested:
<UL>
<LI> numbers (integer, floating point (including complex))
<LI> symbols
<LI> sets
<LI> arrays
</UL>
<LI><B>Sub-, super-, and other-scripts</B>
<UL>
<LI>there was intense discussion about what method should be used
to represent these.
<LI> eventually, it was generally agreed that this was beyond the
scope of the standard, because these are typographical, and
not mathematical, attributes.
</UL>
<LI><B>Functions</B>
<UL>
<LI> after some discussion, it became clear that it would be both
impossible and undesirable to include all possible functions
in the base proposal.
<LI> there would always be functions that someone considers
important that were left out.
<LI> four extensions were proposed: Polynomial Manipulation, Group Theory, Programming, and Tensors.
</UL>
<LI><B>Control Layer:</B> discussion was deferred to future meetings.
</UL>
<H3>Assignment of responsibilities</H3>
<B>Waterloo Maple Software:</B> will take care of the following list:
<UL>
<LI> prepare the OpenMath mailing list (openmath@maplesoft.on.ca).
<LI> prepare this report.
<LI> update the OpenMath proposal based on the discussions at the
workshop. Some things that are to be incorporated are:
<UL>
<LI> simplified structure level operators.
<LI> a method to determine packages understood.
<LI> in-line OpenMath recognition via <openmath>..<\openmath>.
<LI> adoption of SGML character set extensions.
<LI> an OpenMath to SGML mapping.
<LI> a Maple extension to the standard.
<LI> extensions for number bases.
<LI> clarification of labels and references.
<LI> simplification of concept of symbols.
<LI> complex numbers.
</UL>
</UL>
<P>
<B>Carlo Traverso:</B> design of an extension for polynomial manipulation.
<P>
<B>Someone at CWI:</B> design of an extension for group theory.
<P>
<B>Michael Monagan, Marc Gaetano:</B> design of an extension for programming.
<P>
<B>Someone called MB:</B> design of an extension for tensors.
<HR>
This page is part of the OpenMath Web archive,
and is no longer kept up to date.
</BODY>
</HTML>