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This is very cool. Computer Algebra Systems are like a super power. I’ve been able to use the TI-89’s arbitrary precision to do pretty sophisticated cryptograph
by Robotbeat 6y ago
This is very cool. Computer Algebra Systems are like a super power. I’ve been able to use the TI-89’s arbitrary precision to do pretty sophisticated cryptography work. Symbolics.jl has the ability to modify some of the rules of the algebra, which should allow even easier implementation of number theory related cryptographic concepts (as well as compression and error correcting codes... or quaternions or bra-ket quantum mechanics) without needing specific libraries. I love this as I’m trying to teach myself the fundamental concepts in mathematical terms and not just something in a specialized black box library. (And without paying the insanely high price of Mathematica if I ever want to use it professionally.)
I’ve looked briefly into Julia in the past, but if stuff like this becomes pretty standard (in the way numpy is for Python), I think I could become pretty comfortable in Julia.
- coliveira 6y agoWe already have a very good open source CAS called Maxima, which is implemented in Lisp. It is a descendent of Macsyma, the oldest CAS, created at the MIT.
- mkl 6y agoMaxima is quite awkward to use IME. Because of its age it has very nonstandard syntax for some things, like ":" for assignment, and "(..., ..., ...)" for blocks of commands (equivalent to e.g. "{...; ...; ...}" in C, JavaScript, Java, etc.). I prefer Sympy.
- a0-prw 6y agoYou are quite right to draw attention to this fact, but let the "geniuses" reinvent the wheel worse ;)