title: Maple 8 keeps everyone happy
abstract: The author is impressed with the upgrade to the mathematics package Maple 8, finding it genuinely useful to scientists and educators. The developments Waterloo Maple class as revolutionary include a student calculus package, and Maplets. The first provides a high-level command set for calculus exploration and plotting (removing the need to work with, say, plot primitives). The second is a package for hand-coding custom graphical user interfaces (GUIs) using elements such as check boxes, radio buttons, slider bars and pull-down menus. When called, a Maplet launches a runtime Java environment that pops up a window-analogous to a Java applet-to perform a programmed routine, if required passing the result back to the Maple worksheet
keyphrases: student calculus package Maplet high-level command set calculus exploration GUIs runtime Java environment Maple 8 mathematics package calculus plotting