Alejandro, pagan, thanks for this detailed overview, that's quite a few bugs, quite a bit of work to fix them...

can a small-ish company like Maplesoft survive in the era of free software? Isn't there a case for opening up some of the core code, while devoting the company's efforts to a smaller subset of tasks, like providing more specialized products for corporate clients and such; opening up Maple, if it isn't already too late, might create a community of developers that would contribute to improving the basic functionalities of Maple, would create free advertising and greater visibility, would lead to it being integrated/associated with other software, e.g. Octave (the "free Matlab"), etc..

Alejandro, I have used total commander in the past, also real commander, and I like both, my explorer replacement is xplorer2 lite (Gosh do I hate the Microsoft explorer). I haven't found as good an explorer as xplorer2 or the commanders under linux (I'll follow up on your suggestions, I'm not impressed by Dolphin, you can't use tab to switch windows in dual panel view, apparently, strange limitation).

pagan, I'll be perfectly honest here, as much as it pains me to disappoint, the honest truth is I couldn't get your commands to work with or without cygwin (I have reverted to the totally inefficient ways of before I even knew about mpl). I have the default cygwin options. I don't know if it's relevant but I'm running Maple 15 32 bits on 64 bits Windows 7, because a few versions ago I couldn't get 64 bits to work and haven't tried since, could that be a problem? if so, I'll try to install 64 bits at the office tomorrow.

Alejandro, pagan, thanks for this detailed overview, that's quite a few bugs, quite a bit of work to fix them...

can a small-ish company like Maplesoft survive in the era of free software? Isn't there a case for opening up some of the core code, while devoting the company's efforts to a smaller subset of tasks, like providing more specialized products for corporate clients and such; opening up Maple, if it isn't already too late, might create a community of developers that would contribute to improving the basic functionalities of Maple, would create free advertising and greater visibility, would lead to it being integrated/associated with other software, e.g. Octave (the "free Matlab"), etc..

Alejandro, I have used total commander in the past, also real commander, and I like both, my explorer replacement is xplorer2 lite (Gosh do I hate the Microsoft explorer). I haven't found as good an explorer as xplorer2 or the commanders under linux (I'll follow up on your suggestions, I'm not impressed by Dolphin, you can't use tab to switch windows in dual panel view, apparently, strange limitation).

pagan, I'll be perfectly honest here, as much as it pains me to disappoint, the honest truth is I couldn't get your commands to work with or without cygwin (I have reverted to the totally inefficient ways of before I even knew about mpl). I have the default cygwin options. I don't know if it's relevant but I'm running Maple 15 32 bits on 64 bits Windows 7, because a few versions ago I couldn't get 64 bits to work and haven't tried since, could that be a problem? if so, I'll try to install 64 bits at the office tomorrow.

Oh I see, it's certainly disingenuous. I did a little bit of googlevestigation, the site seems to be operated from Russia. No wonder? That takes care of the copyright issues, doesn't it...

Oh I see, it's certainly disingenuous. I did a little bit of googlevestigation, the site seems to be operated from Russia. No wonder? That takes care of the copyright issues, doesn't it...

(On Windows7x64)

I don't know if this problem with "escaping" and "quoting" is related to this issue, but I just noticed that .mpl files can't be opened from the "context menu" with Maple 15 standard, i.e. right-clicking on their icon.

I can open an .mpl file from an open Maple 15 Standard GUI session, using mouse and menu, File->open. It prompts me for the kind of input I want. If I execute it, it works as expected, the test plot is printed in the "standard" quality.

But if I right-click on the file icon from the Windows explorer and point to the maplew.exe icon, nothing happens.

If I right-click and select instead cwmaple.exe, it prompts me for the input type, if I select "maple input" it opens an empty file. If I select "maple text" it displays the text properly. I can then execute and print the test plot in the "classic" quality.

If I select cmaple.exe, no window opens, it seems that something is running, and the test plot is printed in the "classic" quality.

Test, save the following as text and use extension .mpl
plotsetup(ps);
p := plot(x^2,x=-1..1):
plots:-display(p);

(On Windows7x64)

I don't know if this problem with "escaping" and "quoting" is related to this issue, but I just noticed that .mpl files can't be opened from the "context menu" with Maple 15 standard, i.e. right-clicking on their icon.

I can open an .mpl file from an open Maple 15 Standard GUI session, using mouse and menu, File->open. It prompts me for the kind of input I want. If I execute it, it works as expected, the test plot is printed in the "standard" quality.

But if I right-click on the file icon from the Windows explorer and point to the maplew.exe icon, nothing happens.

If I right-click and select instead cwmaple.exe, it prompts me for the input type, if I select "maple input" it opens an empty file. If I select "maple text" it displays the text properly. I can then execute and print the test plot in the "classic" quality.

If I select cmaple.exe, no window opens, it seems that something is running, and the test plot is printed in the "classic" quality.

Test, save the following as text and use extension .mpl
plotsetup(ps);
p := plot(x^2,x=-1..1):
plots:-display(p);

pagan, Alejandro, my thanks to you, I would have gone mad.

I left the whole matter aside for a few days (I'd been up all night trying things out without any success, way way too long), I'm impressed you didn't give up and so grateful for your suggestions.

I would move over to linux for this, as I understand so many experts around here do, but with Maple I only have access to the Windows version (besides, linux makes me stay up all night too, but for different issues).

Anyhow I did not remain completely idle, I have finally set up revision control (thanks acer for spurring me on), I have set up both bazaar (which I already have in my linux partition) and git (bash mode), it wasn't too hard, took less than an hour to set it up and test it. I'm not sure if one is better than the other, but since I couldn't decide I set up both.

I also looked into editors, I tried several tex editors, looking for a cross-platform solution, got eclipse to work under windows, but it's way too slow, so I'm still undecided. I hadn't heard about TSE, thanks for the suggestion Alejandro, I'm trying it now. I have narrowed my short-list to texmaker and texniccenter.

I suppose, to be fair, that the standard gui is intended as a mouse-based 2D-math tool, and not intended for the "geeks" who insist on developing routines, and the standard gui developers' attitude towards request for productivity tips and tools is probably along the lines of "hack it if you can." And without you I'd have been stuck right there and then, promptly regressing to executing my worksheet manually for hours on end. I'd have happily executed under classic, which was so easy to set up, but the exported 2D plots look so much better with standard that I am very eager to execute them with that driver. By the way, I do find the standard gui 2D exported plots quite good (at least as good as Matlab's, while not as fancy as Stata's, to give two examples of softs I use regularly).

I'm grateful that this workaround has been found (how long will this workaround work? let's hope we do not need to probe further at the next release).

I hope someone at Maplesoft is listening and will consider addressing this issue (or "bug") for the next release.

P.S. I never see this thread in the "Active Conversations" list on the rhs column of the site. To find it, I use my bookmark. So perhaps no-one from Maplesoft will ever read this... Oh no we're doomed...

;-)

pagan, Alejandro, my thanks to you, I would have gone mad.

I left the whole matter aside for a few days (I'd been up all night trying things out without any success, way way too long), I'm impressed you didn't give up and so grateful for your suggestions.

I would move over to linux for this, as I understand so many experts around here do, but with Maple I only have access to the Windows version (besides, linux makes me stay up all night too, but for different issues).

Anyhow I did not remain completely idle, I have finally set up revision control (thanks acer for spurring me on), I have set up both bazaar (which I already have in my linux partition) and git (bash mode), it wasn't too hard, took less than an hour to set it up and test it. I'm not sure if one is better than the other, but since I couldn't decide I set up both.

I also looked into editors, I tried several tex editors, looking for a cross-platform solution, got eclipse to work under windows, but it's way too slow, so I'm still undecided. I hadn't heard about TSE, thanks for the suggestion Alejandro, I'm trying it now. I have narrowed my short-list to texmaker and texniccenter.

I suppose, to be fair, that the standard gui is intended as a mouse-based 2D-math tool, and not intended for the "geeks" who insist on developing routines, and the standard gui developers' attitude towards request for productivity tips and tools is probably along the lines of "hack it if you can." And without you I'd have been stuck right there and then, promptly regressing to executing my worksheet manually for hours on end. I'd have happily executed under classic, which was so easy to set up, but the exported 2D plots look so much better with standard that I am very eager to execute them with that driver. By the way, I do find the standard gui 2D exported plots quite good (at least as good as Matlab's, while not as fancy as Stata's, to give two examples of softs I use regularly).

I'm grateful that this workaround has been found (how long will this workaround work? let's hope we do not need to probe further at the next release).

I hope someone at Maplesoft is listening and will consider addressing this issue (or "bug") for the next release.

P.S. I never see this thread in the "Active Conversations" list on the rhs column of the site. To find it, I use my bookmark. So perhaps no-one from Maplesoft will ever read this... Oh no we're doomed...

;-)

I got a similar impression, I hope it's not a trend...

I just came across this new site (it looks new):

http://www.maplecomputer.info/

I got a similar impression, I hope it's not a trend...

I just came across this new site (it looks new):

http://www.maplecomputer.info/

by coincindence, our library has just received a copy of this:

Jonathan M. Borwein, Matthew P. Skerritt, An Introduction to Modern Mathematical Computing: With Maple(TM) (Springer Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics and Technology), Springer, 1st Edition (July 15, 2011).

nice, thanks for sharing, there are a few small typos, so let me copy your code again, for the record:

a := [[1,2],[3,4],[5,6],[4,4]];
b := [[2,2],[3,3],[4,4],[2,3]];
x := [op(map(a->a[1],a)),op(map(b->b[1],b))];
y := [op(map(a->a[2],a)),op(map(b->b[2],b))];
z := [1$nops(a),2$nops(b)];

p := Statistics:-BubblePlot(x,y,z, 'color' = grey):
to3d := plottools:-transform((x,y)->[x,y,0]):

plots:-display( to3d(p) , 'axes' = boxed, 'labels' = ['x','y','z'], 'orientation' = [-110,10,115] );

This 'trick' is good to know.

nice, thanks for sharing, there are a few small typos, so let me copy your code again, for the record:

a := [[1,2],[3,4],[5,6],[4,4]];
b := [[2,2],[3,3],[4,4],[2,3]];
x := [op(map(a->a[1],a)),op(map(b->b[1],b))];
y := [op(map(a->a[2],a)),op(map(b->b[2],b))];
z := [1$nops(a),2$nops(b)];

p := Statistics:-BubblePlot(x,y,z, 'color' = grey):
to3d := plottools:-transform((x,y)->[x,y,0]):

plots:-display( to3d(p) , 'axes' = boxed, 'labels' = ['x','y','z'], 'orientation' = [-110,10,115] );

This 'trick' is good to know.

@acer 

thanks for this explanation, fascinating history!

@acer 

thanks for this explanation, fascinating history!