
                                   Mathomatic
                                       by
                               George Gesslein II

This archive contains the complete C source code and documentation for
Mathomatic, the automatic algebraic manipulator.  Using the included
makefiles, this text mode application should compile with gcc and run
correctly under Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, and Cygwin, without any modifications.
Most of the Mathomatic code can also be called from any C compatible program,
when linked with Mathomatic specially compiled as a symbolic math library
(see directory "lib").

Mathomatic is a portable Computer Algebra System (CAS) that can solve,
simplify, and compare algebraic equations, perform simultaneous real number,
imaginary number, and polynomial arithmetic, etc.  It does some calculus and
is very easy to compile, learn, and use.

All Mathomatic software and documentation are copyrighted and made available
under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 (see file
"COPYING").  That means Mathomatic is free software and comes with no
warranty at all, but if you find any errors in it, I will try to fix them.


                                  Compilation
                                  -----------

This section can be skipped; you may wish to jump to the next section with
short compile/install instructions, or read the file "INSTALL.txt", if you
only wish to install Mathomatic.

On a Debian or Ubuntu Linux system, the "build-essential" and readline
development packages are required to compile Mathomatic with readline
functionality.

To compile under Mac OS X, Xcode Tools should be installed, which contains
the GNU C compiler (gcc) and make utility.  Xcode Tools is available on one
of the Mac OS X installation discs or downloadable from the Apple developer
tools website.  To open a shell window, double click on the "Terminal"
application in "Applications/Utilities".

To compile Mathomatic without readline support, type "make" at a shell prompt
while in the Mathomatic source code directory.  That will compile the C
source code to create the executable file named "mathomatic".  To run
Mathomatic, type "./mathomatic" at the shell prompt.  No other files are
needed to run Mathomatic.

To test most functionality, type:

	make test

If no errors are encountered, "All tests passed" will be displayed, along
with the total run time.

To recompile with readline editing and history of all Mathomatic input, type:

	make clean
	make READLINE=1

That allows use of the cursor keys to recall and edit previously entered and
pushed expressions when running Mathomatic.  A readline library must be
installed to use readline.

To create the compile-time secure version of Mathomatic, with readline
functionality and no file I/O nor shelling out possible, type:

	./compile.secure

That will create the executable "mathomatic_secure", which can safely be used
as a telnet application or CGI program.  The run-time security option
"mathomatic -s3" functions similarly.


                                  Installation
                                  ------------

A typical installation is done by typing the following at the shell prompt:

	make READLINE=1
	make test
	sudo make install

That will compile the source code, test the functionality of the generated
executable (named "mathomatic"), and install the executable, docs, and tests
in "/usr/local" in less than a minute.  If you like, use "make m4install"
instead of "make install", to install m4 Mathomatic also, which are shell
scripts named "matho" and "rmath".  m4 (macro) Mathomatic allows easy entry
of math functions like sqrt(x) and sin(x) as macros.  "matho" runs m4
Mathomatic without readline support and "rmath" runs "matho" with a readline
front end, if the "rlwrap" program is available.

There are quite a few math goodies in this archive, besides the main
Mathomatic program:

  The directory "icons" contains Mathomatic icons for your desktop.
  The directory "doc" contains the Mathomatic documentation in HTML.
  The directory "tests" contains Mathomatic test and example scripts.
  The directory "primes" contains a prime number generator utility, etc.
  The directory "lib" contains the API and test for the Mathomatic library.
  The directory "m4" contains m4 Mathomatic supporting files.
  The directory "misc" contains a polynomial equation solver utility.
  The directory "factorial" contains factorial functions in C and Python.

For quick help while running Mathomatic, type "?" or use the help command.
To read or print the documentation, point your web browser to the file
"doc/index.html", or "/usr/local/share/doc/mathomatic/html/index.html" if
Mathomatic was installed.  When copying the Mathomatic documentation, please
copy the entire doc or html directory, not just selected files from it.

For the most recent source code, binaries, documentation, information, and
other help, please visit the Mathomatic website: http://mathomatic.org

This README was written by George Gesslein II, chief author and maintainer of
Mathomatic.

Contact information:

  email:
    georgegesslein@gmail.com

  postal address:
    George Gesslein II
    P.O. Box 224
    Lansing, New York  14882-0224
    USA

The author is happy to help friendly people with any problems using this
software.  If you get stuck or find an error, send email to him.  Any email
with the word "Mathomatic" in the subject will make it past the spam filter.

Please report suspected bugs in Mathomatic on the Launchpad website:
"http://launchpad.net/mathomatic".  Mathomatic should always give correct and
readable answers; if not, please report it.


             Compile-time defines for the Mathomatic source code
             ---------------------------------------------------

To compile Mathomatic for UNIX, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, or any POSIX compliant
OS, define "UNIX" (see "makefile").  To compile Mathomatic for a generic
system, simply compile with no defines.  To compile for Microsoft Windows
using Cygwin, define only "CYGWIN" (see "makefile.cygwin").  To compile for
hand-helds like the Nintendo DS and the iPhone, define "HANDHELD" and
"SECURE" for greatly reduced memory usage and no file I/O nor forking.

Define "READLINE" and include the readline libraries at link time to use
readline mode, allowing easy command line editing and history.  The GNU
readline development package must be installed to compile with this option
and the readline library must be installed to run the resulting executable.

Define "SILENT" to remove all helpful messages, warnings, and debugging code.
This is useful when using Mathomatic in another program or if you only want
terse output.  The Mathomatic command "set debug -1" is another way to not
display helpful messages and warnings.

Define "LIBRARY" to compile the Mathomatic code as a symbolic math library,
so that the Mathomatic symbolic math engine may be used in any C compatible
program.  "SILENT" is automatically defined when "LIBRARY" is defined.  Most
standard input and output is disabled.  See the directory "lib" for the
library hooks (API) and test/example program and how to compile it (read
"lib/README.txt").

Define "SECURE" to disable all file reading, writing, and executing.  This is
useful when making Mathomatic available to the public through telnet or CGI
programs.  It is also useful when making ROMable or stand-alone code.  All
insecure commands and code are omitted with this option.  See file
"compile.secure", which is the secure Mathomatic build script.  The run-time
option -s makes this special compilation for security unnecessary.

Define "TIMEOUT_SECONDS" to set the maximum number of seconds Mathomatic may
run.  Upon timeout, Mathomatic properly exits.  This is useful when making
Mathomatic a telnet or CGI program, so it won't overload the server.

Define "HANDHELD" when compiling for handheld devices like the iPhone.
Currently, this only reduces the maximum memory usage.  The default
expression array size will be reduced to be 10 times smaller to accommodate
the smaller RAM size of handhelds.

The "I18N" define is meant to enable internationalization using gettext(3).
Currently all strings to be translated have been marked, but no translations
have been made, so Mathomatic is only available in English.

Define "NO_COLOR" to default to color mode off.

To see which of the above defines were used in a compiled version of
Mathomatic, use the version command.


                         Mathomatic C source code files
                         ------------------------------

  altproto.h - alternate proto.h, made by hand
  am.h - the main include file for Mathomatic, contains tunable parameters
  complex.h - floating point complex number arithmetic function prototypes
  externs.h - global variable extern definitions, from globals.c
  includes.h - automatically includes all necessary include files
  license.h - the current Mathomatic license notice
  proto.h - global function prototypes, made with cproto utility

  am.c - miscellaneous C functions for Mathomatic
  cmds.c - code for commands that don't belong anywhere else
  complex.c - floating point complex number routines for Mathomatic
  complex_lib.c - generic floating point complex number arithmetic library
  diff.c - symbolic differentiation routines and related commands
  factor.c - symbolic factorizing routines (not polynomial factoring)
  factor_int.c - floating point constant factorizing routines
  gcd.c - floating point GCD and numerical fractions code
  globals.c - global variable and array definitions, duped in externs.h
  help.c - command table, help command, and input parsing routines
  integrate.c - integration routines and commands
  list.c - expression and equation display routines
  main.c - startup code for Mathomatic, not used for library
  parse.c - mathematical expression parsing routines
  poly.c - simplifying and polynomial routines
  simplify.c - simplifying routines
  solve.c - symbolic solving routines
  super.c - group and combine denominators of symbolic fractions
  unfactor.c - symbolic unfactorizing (expanding) routines


              Symbolic math library interface source code files
              -------------------------------------------------

  lib/mathomatic.h - include file for user programs

  lib/lib.c - commented Mathomatic symbolic math engine API
  lib/test.c - test and example program main() to link with library
