Subsections

3. Frequently Asked Questions

3.1 What are the longterm goals for SAGE ?

Because SAGE is a new system, we begin by explaining the main longterm goals for SAGE. These have not all been attained, though authors have done much since work on SAGE started in 2004.

3.2 Why use Python?

There are pros and cons.

3.2.1 Advantages to python

The primary implementation language of SAGE is Python (see [Py]). Building a mathematics framework using Python has several advantages.


3.2.2 Disadvantages of using Python

Everybody who does mathematics using Python runs into these problems:

Rather than writing a new language, we use the Python language exactly as is, and write a pre-parser for IPython so that the command line behavior of IPython is what a mathematician expects. However, one must still obey the standard Python rules when writing packages that will be imported into SAGE.

3.3 I'd like to contribute somehow. How can I?

If you would like to contribute to SAGE, your help will be greatly appreciated! It can range from python code to simply adding a section or two to the SAGE reference manual. Just email William Stein at wstein@ucsd.edu and see the SAGE website. In particular, look at the issue tracker on the SAGE webpage which lists features and bugs.

3.4 How do I reference SAGE ?

If you write a paper using SAGE, please reference computations done with SAGE by including [SJ] in your bibliography.

If you happen to have just read straight through this tutorial, and have some sense of how long it took you, please let me know, so I can add that information to a future version.

Have fun with SAGE !

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