Free Software
David Lippman
Pierce College
This presentation file, with links to all software discussed, can be found on my webpage at http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/dlippman/
What is "Free"?
"Free" as in "Free Beer"
"Free" as in "Free Speech"
Software Licenses
Proprietary
Software sold for profit, including Shareware
Semi-Free
Example: free for non-commercial use
May or may not be open-source
Freeware
Ambiguous term
Usually free of cost, but not open-source
Open-Source
Free for commercial and non-commercial use
Freedom to use, modify, and redistribute
Does
not
mean Non-Commercial
Flavors of Open-Source
Public Domain
You're free to do anything you want
Non-Copyleft (e.g. Modified BSD-style)
Allows modification and redistribution as proprietary software
Usually require retaining copyright notices of original author
CopyLeft (e.g. GNU Public License)
Freedom to use, modify, and redistribute
Any modifications, if made publicly available, must use same license
Preserves freedom
Tradeoffs of Using Free Software
Community-based support vs. Vendor support
Community-based upgrades vs. Vendor upgrades
Maintenence costs vs. License costs
Back-end costs
Lack of Warranty
Perception of Non-Commercial
The Goodies
CAS
Stats
Typesetting
Graphing
Web-Based Assessment
Other Handy Stuff
Honorable Mentions
CAS
Maxima
+
wxMaxima
Frontend
Similar to: Maple/Mathematica
Upsides: Good symbolic integration. Easy Windows install
Downsides: No notebook-style formatting options
Octave
Similar to: Matlab (mostly syntax equivalent)
Upsides: Comprehensive manual. Windows install.
CAS Cont'd
Euler
Similar to: Matlab
Upsides: Fairly easy to use for Matlab users. Easy Windows install.
Downsides: Light documentation
Yacas
(Yet Another CAS)
Similar to: Maple/Mathematica/Matlab
Upsides: Windows install,
web-based version
, comprehensive manual
Downsides: Weak symbolic integration
Stats
R
Similar to: S
Upsides: Windows install, comprehensive
Downsides: No friendly user interface
PSPP
Similar to: SPSS
Downsides: No GUI
Misc Web Tools
: boxplot, t and z probabilities, etc.
Upsides: Web-based
Downsides: Not comprehensive
Typesetting
MikTeX
+
TeXShell
or
TeXnicCenter
LaTeX based - steep learning curve
Upsides: Can output as PDF. Uses industry and academia standard (TeX).
Windows only, but alternatives for Mac/Linux exist.
OpenOffice.org
Similar to: MS Office
Complete suite of word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and database programs
Downside: Equation editor is weak. Add on (Jex) is available, but also not strong
Graphing
gnuplot
2D and 3D
Upsides: Extremely versatile
Downsides: Command line entry; no GUI
GraphCalc
2D and 3D
Upsides: Good 2D and 3D graphs with user-friendly GUI
Downside: Limited options
SVG Grapher
2D
Upsides: Web based, allows creation of piecewise graphs
Downside: Limited options. Graphs don’t always print well
Graphing Cont'd
Java Graphers
2D and 3D
Upsides: Web based. Very versatile.
Downsides: Can’t copy and paste into documents from web
ODE Grapher
Similar to: ODE Architect
Upsides: Web based. View solutions to 1st-4th order ODE, or systems of 2 or 3 ODEs
Downside: Can’t copy and paste from web
WinPlot
2D, 3D, direction fields, etc.
Lots of options
Free of cost, but not open-source, and does not install icons.
Web-Based Assessment
WebWork
(
Demo
)
Upsides: Very versatile question language. Large question libraries exist.
Downsides: Tricky installation. Question sets only – no additional LMS features
Aim
/
STACK
Uses maxima/Maple as backend CAS
Downside: Requires running maxima on web server
WIMS
Interactive exercises as well as assessment. Uses maxima/Maple/etc for CAS backend
Downsides: Really complicated question language (for more than simple questions). Complicated server install
Web-Based Assessment Cont'd
IMathAS
(
Pierce Site
)
Upsides: Simple server install. Mini LMS along with assessments.
Downsides: Limited content available. Requires IE6 + browser plugins or FireFox 1.5 for visual graph/math display
Moodle
Full LMS, like BlackBoard. Better math question types. Lots of optional add-on functionality
Downside: TeX–based math input is default – no equation editor (add-on ASCIIMath editor available)
Other Handy Stuff
PDF Creator
Create a PDF of any document by choosing "Print"
FireFox 1.5
Web Browser, like Internet Explorer
Built-in MathML and SVG support. Tabbed browsing. Less security holes
GIMP
Photo-editing software, like Photoshop
Downsides: Not nearly as feature-rich as Photoshop. Need
InkScape
for vector graphics
S5
HTML-based Slideshow System
Other Handy Stuff Cont'd
Win____
Winarc: Game and puzzle generator, including Sudoku, Rubik cubes
Windisc: Travelling Salesman graph generator
Several other tools
Free of cost, but not open source.
Mathtools
Indexed listing of online activities and other resources
Questions?
Questions?