{"id":4596,"date":"2012-10-04T00:06:41","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T23:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.walkingrandomly.com\/?p=4596"},"modified":"2012-10-04T10:19:26","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T09:19:26","slug":"a-month-of-math-software-september-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/?p=4596","title":{"rendered":"A Month Of Math Software &#8211; September 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to the latest edition of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walkingrandomly.com\/?cat=47\">A Month of Math Software<\/a> where I take a look at all that is shiny and new in the computational mathematics world.\u00a0 This one&#8217;s slightly late and so it not only covers all of September but also the first 3 days in October.\u00a0 If you have any math software news that you&#8217;d like to share with the world, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walkingrandomly.com\/?page_id=2055\">drop me a line<\/a> and tell me all about it.\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p><strong>MATLAB gets a Ribbon (sorry&#8230;Toolstrip)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A new version of MATLAB has been released and it has had some major cosmetic surgery.\u00a0 The Mathworks insist on calling the new look in 2012b a <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/loren\/2012\/09\/12\/the-matlab-r2012b-desktop-part-1-introduction-to-the-toolstrip\/\">Toolstrip<\/a> but everyone else will call it a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ribbon_%28computing%29\">Ribbon<\/a>.\u00a0 Although they&#8217;ve been around for many years, ribbon based interfaces hit the big time when Microsoft used them for Office 2007..a decision that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.exceluser.com\/explore\/surveys\/ribbon\/ribbon-survey-results.htm\">many<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/betanews.com\/2011\/08\/30\/windows-ribbon-is-like-an-overstuffed-refrigerator-a-maze-only-navigable-by-your-homes-primary-cook\/\">many<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/it-tactics.blogspot.co.uk\/2008\/11\/why-i-hate-ribbons.html\">many<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/8301-505143_162-28646686\/hate-the-ribbon-in-microsoft-word-2010-heres-how-to-customize-it\/\">many<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smittypro.com\/Blog\/?p=289\">many<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/negativevacuum.wordpress.com\/duck-n-cover\/hate-the-ribbon\/\">many<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/answers.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/forum\/office_2007-word\/i-hate-the-ribbon-give-me-my-old-menus-back\/22f0885d-d4fa-4d1b-a857-dfce858b71f4\">many<\/a> people hated.\u00a0 I hate them too and now I have to contend with one in MATLAB&#8230;and so do you because there is no way to switch back to the old interface.\u00a0 The best you can do is minimise the thing and pretend it doesn&#8217;t exist.\u00a0 Unhappy users abound (check out the user comments at <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/loren\/2012\/09\/12\/the-matlab-r2012b-desktop-part-1-introduction-to-the-toolstrip\/\">http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/loren\/2012\/09\/12\/the-matlab-r2012b-desktop-part-1-introduction-to-the-toolstrip\/<\/a> for example).\u00a0 There have been a lot of other changes too which I&#8217;ll discuss in an upcoming review.<\/p>\n<p>Do you use MATLAB? How do you feel about this new look?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.walkingrandomly.com\/images\/matlab\/2012b_ribbon.PNG\" alt=\"MATLAB 2012b ribbon\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Numerical Javascript!<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/numericjs.com\/\">Numeric<\/a>, a comprehensive free numerical library for Javascript, has seen a minor update to version 1.2.3.\u00a0 The new release includes a <a href=\"http:\/\/numericjs.com\/wordpress\/?p=52\">much faster algorithm for linear programming<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Free and open source general purpose mathematics<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scilab.org\/\">Scilab<\/a>, arguably the best open source MATLAB clone available, has seen a major upgrade to version 5.4.\u00a0 Go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scilab.org\/products\/scilab\/download\/5.4.0\/whatsnew\">http:\/\/www.scilab.org\/products\/scilab\/download\/5.4.0\/whatsnew<\/a> for the new goodness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scilab.org\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.walkingrandomly.com\/images\/scilab\/scilab544.png\" alt=\"Scilab 5.4\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On 8th September, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sagemath.org\/\">Sage<\/a> version 5.3 was released.\u00a0 Sage is an extremely powerful general purpose mathematics package based on Python and dozens of other open source projects.\u00a0 The Sage development team like to say that instead of\u00a0 re-inventing the wheel they built a car!\u00a0 Mighty fine one too if you ask me.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sagemath.org\/mirror\/src\/changelogs\/sage-5.3.txt\">What&#8217;s new in Sage 5.3<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ren\u00e9 Grothmann has updated his very nice, free Euler Math Toolbox.\u00a0 At the time of writing its at version 18.8 but the updates come thick and fast.\u00a0 The latest changes are always at <a href=\"http:\/\/euler.rene-grothmann.de\/Programs\/XX%20-%20Changes.html\">http:\/\/euler.rene-grothmann.de\/Programs\/XX%20-%20Changes.html<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The theory of numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/pari.math.u-bordeaux.fr\/pub\/pari\/unix\/pari-2.5.3.changelog\">Pari version 2.5.3<\/a> has been released. <a href=\"http:\/\/pari.math.u-bordeaux.fr\/\">Pari<\/a> is a free &#8216;computer algebra system designed for fast  computations in number theory&#8217;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/magma.maths.usyd.edu.au\/magma\/releasenotes\/2\/18\/10\/\">Magma version 2.18-10<\/a> was released in September.\u00a0 Magma is a commercial system for algebra, number theory, algebraic geometry and algebraic combinatorics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Numerical Libraries<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Intel Math Kernel Library (MKL) is now at version 11.0.\u00a0 The MKL is a highly optimised numerical library for Intel platforms that covers subjects such as linear algebra, fast fourier transforms and random numbers.\u00a0 Find out what&#8217;s new at <a href=\"http:\/\/software.intel.com\/en-us\/articles\/whats-new-in-intel-mkl\/\">http:\/\/software.intel.com\/en-us\/articles\/whats-new-in-intel-mkl\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>LAPACK, the standard library for linear algebra on which libraries such as MKL and ACML are based, has been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.netlib.org\/lapack\/lapack-3.4.2.html\">updated to version 3.4.2<\/a>.\u00a0 There is no new functionality, this is a bug-fix release<\/li>\n<li>The Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) have released a major update to their commercial C library.\u00a0 Mark 23 of the library includes lots of new stuff (345 new functions) such as a version of the Mersenne Twister random number generator with skip-ahead, additional functions for multidimensional integrals, a new suite of functions for solving boundary-value problems by an implementation of the Chebyshev pseudospectral method and loads more.\u00a0 The press release is at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nag.co.uk\/numeric\/CL\/newatmark23\">http:\/\/www.nag.co.uk\/numeric\/CL\/newatmark23<\/a> and the juicy detail is at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nag.co.uk\/numeric\/CL\/nagdoc_cl23\/html\/genint\/news.html\">http:\/\/www.nag.co.uk\/numeric\/CL\/nagdoc_cl23\/html\/genint\/news.html<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Python<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>After the publication of the last Month of Math Software I learned about the death of John Hunter, author of <a href=\"http:\/\/matplotlib.org\/\">matplotlib<\/a>, due to complications arising from cancer treatment.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/mail.scipy.org\/pipermail\/scipy-dev\/2012-August\/017919.html\">A tribute<\/a> has been written by Fernando Perez.\u00a0 My heart goes out to his family and friends.<\/li>\n<li>After 8 months work, version 0.11 of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scipy.org\/\">SciPy<\/a> is now available.\u00a0 Go to <a href=\"http:\/\/docs.scipy.org\/doc\/scipy\/reference\/release.0.11.0.html\">http:\/\/docs.scipy.org\/doc\/scipy\/reference\/release.0.11.0.html<\/a> for the good stuff which includes improvements to the optimisation routines and new routines for dense and sparse matrices among others.<\/li>\n<li>A new major release of <a href=\"http:\/\/pandas.pydata.org\/\">pandas<\/a> is available. Pandas provides easy-to-use data structures and data analysis tools for Python.\u00a0 See what&#8217;s new in 0.9.0 at <a href=\"http:\/\/pandas.pydata.org\/pandas-docs\/dev\/whatsnew.html\">http:\/\/pandas.pydata.org\/pandas-docs\/dev\/whatsnew.html<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Bits of this and that<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>IDL version has been bumped to version 8.2.1.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/idldatapoint.com\/2012\/10\/03\/idl-8-2-1-released\/\">http:\/\/idldatapoint.com\/2012\/10\/03\/idl-8-2-1-released\/<\/a> has the details.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/projects.gnome.org\/gnumeric\/announcements\/1.11\/gnumeric-1.11.6.shtml\">Gnumeric version 1.11.6<\/a> &#8211; A free spreadsheet program<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>And finally&#8230;.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I am a big fan of the <a href=\"http:\/\/xkcd.com\/\">xkcd webcomic<\/a> and so a recent question on the <a href=\"http:\/\/mathematica.stackexchange.com\/questions\">Mathematica StackExchange<\/a> site instantly caught my eye.\u00a0 Xkcd often publishes hand drawn graphs that look like this:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/xkcd.com\/1064\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.walkingrandomly.com\/images\/random\/xkcd_graph.png\" alt=\"xkcd graph\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The question asked&#8230;How could one produce graphs that look like this using Mathematica?\u00a0 It didn&#8217;t take long before the community came up with <a href=\"http:\/\/mathematica.stackexchange.com\/questions\/11350\/xkcd-style-graphs\">some code<\/a> that automatically produces plots like this<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/mathematica.stackexchange.com\/questions\/11350\/xkcd-style-graphs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.walkingrandomly.com\/images\/random\/xkcd_mathematica.png\" alt=\"xkcd mathematica\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I am definitely going to use style in my next presentation!\u00a0 Not to be out-done, others have since done similar work in <a href=\"http:\/\/stackoverflow.com\/questions\/12675147\/xkcd-style-graphs-in-r\">R<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/stackoverflow.com\/questions\/12701841\/xkcd-style-graphs-in-matlab\">MATLAB<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/tex.stackexchange.com\/questions\/74878\/create-xkcd-style-diagram-in-tex\">Latex<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to the latest edition of A Month of Math Software where I take a look at all that is shiny and new in the computational mathematics world.\u00a0 This one&#8217;s slightly late and so it not only covers all of September but also the first 3 days in October.\u00a0 If you have any math software [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-month-of-math-software"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3swhs-1c8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4596"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4612,"href":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4596\/revisions\/4612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walkingrandomly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}