Topic: MathPiper is a new cross platform mathematics-oriented programming language

[Software Santa]

MathPiper is a new cross platform mathematics-oriented programming language.

REQUIRES Advanced User Skills to Install and Run!

http://code.google.com/p/mathpiper/downloads/list

Welcome to the home of MathPiper and MathPiperIDE!

MathPiper is a new mathematics-oriented programming language which is simple enough to be learned as a first programming language and yet powerful enough to be useful in any science, mathematics, or engineering related career.  MathPiper is also a Computer Algebra System (CAS) which is similar in function to the CAS which is included in the TI 89 and TI 92 calculators.

MathPiperIDE is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for MathPiper programming which includes powerful text editing and interactive graphics capabilities.

Download
MathPiperIDE is a cross-platform application and it runs on Windows, Linux, and Macintosh.  The download files for MathPiperIDE can be found on the project website here:

http://code.google.com/p/mathpiper/downloads/list

The MathPiperIDE download file includes MathPiper and installation instructions for it are below.

Downloading And Extracting

MathPiperIDE is hosted at Google and the URL for the project website is:

http://code.google.com/p/mathpiper

MathPiperIDE can be obtained by selecting the downloads tab and choosing the correct download file for your computer. Place the download file on your hard drive where you want MathPiperIDE to be located.

The MathPiperIDE download consists of a main directory (or folder) called mathpiperide which contains a number of directories and files. In order to make downloading quicker and sharing easier, the mathpiperide directory (and all of its contents) have been placed into a single compressed file called an archive. For Windows systems, the archive has a .zip extension and the archives for Unix-based systems have a .tar.bz2 extension.

After an archive has been downloaded onto your computer, the directories and files it contains must be extracted from it. The process of extraction uncompresses copies of the directories and files that are in the archive and places them on the hard drive, usually in the same directory as the archive file. After the extraction process is complete, the archive file will still be present on your drive along with the extracted MathPiperIDE directory and its contents.

The archive file can be easily copied to a CD or USB drive if you would like to install MathPiperIDE on another computer or give it to a friend. However, don't try to run MathPiperIDE from a USB drive because it will not work correctly.

(Note: If you already have a version of MathPiperIDE installed and you want to install a new version in the same directory that holds the old version, you must delete the old version first or move it to a separate directory.)
Extracting The Archive File For Windows Users

Usually the easiest way for Windows users to extract the MathPiperIDE archive file is to navigate to the folder which contains the archive file (using the Windows GUI), right click on the archive file (it should appear as a folder with a vertical zipper on it), and select Extract All... from the pop up menu.

After the extraction process is complete, a new folder called MathPiperIDE should be present in the same folder that contains the archive file. (Note: be careful not to double click on the archive file by mistake when you are trying to open the MathPiperIDE folder. The Windows operating system will open the archive just like it opens folders and this can fool you into thinking you are opening the MathPiperIDE folder when you are not. You may want to move the archive file to another place on your hard drive after it has been extracted to avoid this potential confusion.)


Extracting The Archive File For Unix Users

One way Unix users can extract the download file is to open a shell, change to the directory that contains the archive file, and extract it using the following command:

tar -xvjf <name of archive file>

If your desktop environment has GUI-based archive extraction tools, you can use these as an alternative.


Executing MathPiperIDE

Executing MathPiperIDE On Windows Systems

Open the MathPiperIDE folder (not the archive file!) and double click on the win_run file.


If a black DOS window is displayed then quickly disappears, this usually indicates one of three problems:


1) Java is not installed on your system


2) A version of Java which is older than Java 1.6 on installed on your system.  In order to check the version of Java which is installed on your system, open a DOS shell (by selecting Start -> Run, typing "cmd" in the text field, and then pressing the <Enter> key.)  When the black DOS shell window is shown, run the following line to determine which version of Java you have:


java -version


3) Java is installed on your system, but Windows is having trouble finding it. This problem can be solved by editing the win_run.bat file and adding the full path to the version of Java you want to run at its beginning. For example, here is the beginning of a win_run.bat file which has had the full path to the Java executable added to it.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\java" -Duser.home=. -Xms256M -Xmx512M <THE REST OF THE FILE IS NOT SHOWN HERE TO SAVE SPACE>

Your version of Java should be in a similar place.




Executing MathPiperIDE On Unix Systems

Open a shell, change to the MathPiperIDE folder, and execute the unix_run.sh script by typing the following:

sh unix_run.sh



Executing MathPiperIDE MacOS X

Make a note of where you put the MathPiperIDE application (for example /Applications/MathPiperIDE). Run Terminal (which is in /Applications/Utilities). Change to that directory (folder) by typing:

cd /Applications/MathPiperIDE

Run MathPiperIDE by typing:

sh unix_run.sh

http://www.mathpiper.org/

http://code.google.com/p/mathpiper/