Oberwolfach References on Mathematical Software

1. Background & Intention

Mathematical software has developed during the last twenty years to an established tool in mathematical research and education. Its importance is meanwhile comparable to that of mathematical literature. In contrast to the various systematic collections of mathematical literature, collections of mathematical software so far only exist in a rudimentary manner. In order to make the existing resources more visible and to use them efficiently, it is indispensable to provide appropriate methods and tools for locating, cataloguing, reviewing, and searching of mathematical software. The intention of the Oberwolfach References on Mathematical Software (ORMS) project is to initiate the developement of a permanent provider of infrastructure.

2. Description

The ORMS is a web-interfaced collection of information and links on mathematical software. It presents carefully selected software, including general purpose software systems, teaching software, and more specialized packages up to specific implementations on particular mathematical research problems. Each software package is presented by a short description of its mathematical features, information on basic properties like license type and distribution media are provided, and links to syntax examples, possible demo versions and manuals are given. The ORMS offers a choice of retrieval functions, for example, searching via browsing through a mathematical classification scheme, a structured key word search, and a full text search in the description of the software systems.

3. Mathematical scope

ORMS aims to cover all mathematical software.

4. Technical Realization

The ORMS is built upon the TurboGears 2 (Linux, Apache, Python, Pylons, PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy, Genshi) webframework. This is a state of the art framework for providing interactive WWW applications: all collected information is maintained within a PostgreSQL data base. The user interface is implemented in the Python programming language which dynamically queries the SQL data base and passes the resulting information to the user's browser (such as Mozilla) through the Apache web server.

5. State of matters

The ORMS are still under development. The underlying database is implemented, and filled with a first choice of software systems. Moreover, a user interface, including online help functions, is provided, and searching via a variety of retrieval functions is possible. The ORMS classification scheme for mathematical software is under construction. It is intended to present finally a scheme reflecting proportionately the existing variety of mathematical software. The success of this project will rely on the co-operation of experienced users from different areas of mathematical software. We therefore encourage discussion (at ) and we will be grateful to contributions (at ).

6. Maintenance and Development

The ORMS project is directed and coordinated by Gert-Martin Greuel. The infrastructure is provided by the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach. The developement has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Responsible for support and development is Michael Brickenstein.

So far, the following people have contributed to ORMS:

• Jürgen Hausen (conception)
• Eric Westenberger (development)
• Carsten Gnörlich (development)

7 Scientific Advisory Board

• Arjeh Cohen (computational algebra, Lie groups, OpenMath)
• Iain S. Duff (numerical linear algebra, sparse matrices)
• Andreas Griewank (Nonlinear Optimization, Algorithmic/Automatic Differentiation)
• Wolfgang Härdle (statistics, econometrics)
• Michael Joswig (Geometric combinatorics, polyhedral computation, computational geometry, discrete and linear optimization)
• Erich Kaltofen (Straight-line program/black-box representation, symbolic linear algebra, symbolic-numeric computation, generic software)
• Nobuki Takayama (computational algebraic analysis, integration of mathematical software systems)