JOMA article (web)
preprint (pdf)
JOMA is the on-line journal of the MAA. It is devoted to exploring innovative ways to use the Internet as a medium
of publication. This article is an experiment in producing a publication which combines text exposition and computer access.
The article concerns the process of using user-created special-purpose
languages to produce software systems for mathematics research or instruction.
It develops an approach in which a language is created for a specific target
area and is used to write a skeleton system. As work progresses the language
is extended and the system "fleshed out". Thus the software evolves in reponse
to its use.
The article combines text exposition with access to two versions of
a Groups system. The first was written in 1990 and represents the early stages
of what was to become Groups32. The second is the current version of Groups32.
It discusses the software development techniques involved in producing the
system.
A reader can access a non-programmable version of Groups32 on the Internet.
The article itself provides programmable versions of the 1990 and 2000 systems,
together with a development environment, for readers who wish to experiment
with programming. (The executables are for Windows only.)