Ket Files

SUMMARY

Ket is a minimalist, immersive algebra editor for the keyboard literate.
The goal of this project is to enable the quick, efficient and visually
appealing manipulation of algebra.


FEATURES

 * Ket offers a fast way for a person to perform algebra on a computer.

 * Notes, derivations and documents may be loaded and saved in plain
   text using a simple mathematical notation or exported as LaTeX or
   HTML.

 * A rich set of Vim- and Readline-like keyboard commands are provided
   to efficiently add, edit and copy equation fragments and avoid
   repetition. 

 * Ket can display a wide range of functions and symbols (such as from
   algebra, trigonometry and vector calculus) within a minimalist
   graphical user interface using conventional mathematical notation.


OVERVIEW

Due to the complexity and precision required to write and manipulate
algebra, little progress has been made on developing a suitable user
interface.  Over many years, text editors have developed in order to
concisely and accurately edit plain text as well as mark-up languages
and computer programs.  Many features found in advanced text editors
such as a rich set of commands, modal editing and undo/redo options have
analogies in algebraic manipulation.

Existing software often displays equations in plain text or as a mark-up
language.  In contrast, Ket uses Unicode symbols and the graphical power
to display mathematics as closely as possible to how it is written.
Good quality equations may be drawn in real time as the user manipulates
them offering a uniquely immersive experience.

There are a number of advantages over paper-based algebra in that it is
searchable, may be backed up, and can be exported as text and HTML.
Additionally, while being represented and hence edited as an abstract
pattern, the program models each expression as an equation and can
therefore act as a calculator.  

Although it provides a great many commands to be mastered, with
experience the keyboard literate user will gain an immersive environment
in which to concentrate only on the mathematics of the problem: free
from poor handwriting and re-typing existing equations.


WHO SHOULD USE KET

This program is provided for people who regularly perform
not-too-specialized algebra at or around a computer. The program takes
time to learn, but will, in time, provide a fast and efficient method to
manipulate algebra. Additionally, Ket is able to teach by providing a
different and more immersive environment in which a user may experiment
with algebra from a new perspective.

There are a number of advantages over paper-based algebra in that it is
searchable, may be backed up, and can be exported as text, HTML. It is
the goal of this project to enable algebra speeds limited only by the
mind of the mathematician. That is, although it provides a great many
commands to be mastered, with experience, the keyboard literate user
will be given an impressive environment in which they are able to
concentrate only on the mathematics of the problem, free from poor
handwriting, extensive hand-copying, coffee stains and blackboard
cleaning.


MOTIVATION

Existing mathematical programs largely fall into three categories:
numerical programming (python), mathematical mark-up languages (Tex,
MathML) and computational algebra (Mathematica). None of these program
types focus on facilitating human algebraic manipulation. Mathematics
has in many ways been transformed by such approaches, however algebraic
manipulation lags being these other areas. This is due to the complexity
and precision required in writing and manipulating algebra. As a result,
mathematicians commonly resort to paper-and-pencil or whiteboard
calculations.

Computers continue to replace older methods of solving problems and have
moved far towards the paperless office ideal in a number of tasks.
Perhaps the most successful area in which this has taken place is in
text editing. Here myriad programs have been written to address what is
on the surface a straightforward task, but due to the amount of text to
be edited to produce books and web pages, and the reliability required
in writing readable computer programs, concision and reliability in text
editing has received particular attention.  Out of these have grown
tools such as Vim which greatly simplify complex tasks.  While the focus
of most basic text editors focus only on the direct entry or deletion of
text, these more advanced alternatives focus on editing.

Many of these features have analogies in manipulating mathematical
expressions.  The Ket program focuses on the speed and efficiency of
equation manipulation as these being key features in performing algebra.
It does so by drawing on the rich set of tools provided by text editors.

Algebra consists of modifying and merging equations in order to
gradually transform a series of initial expressions (axioms; laws etc.)
into a desired form (the answer, a special case, or re-expressed as a
pattern). That is, the core of algebra is equation editing and it is
exactly such an edit-focussed approach that Ket has been designed
around.


PROJECT LOCATION

The newest version of the program may be found on its Source Forge page
	http://sourceforge.net/projects/ket 


INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS 

The program consists of a single executable jar file, ket.jar, that may
be downloaded from the Source Forge web page.  This is written in Java
and should be operating system agnostic.  The file contains tutorial
documentation, but displays help files from the internet.  

After downloading the jar file anywhere, no further setup is required.


RUNNING THE PROGRAM

The program can be run from the command line via
	java -jar Ket.jar
(Note that the jar file will also have a version number.)


COMPILING FROM SOURCE

The source code may be downloaded from the SourceForge project page,
	https://sourceforge.net/projects/ket/

Alternatively, the project is stored in a Git repository.  To get a local copy,
open a terminal or command prompt, ensure Git is installed, move to a suitable
folder within your file system, and type
	git clone git://ket.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/ket/ket ket
This includes the documentation in the ket/doc folder, source files in the
ket/src folder and scripts to compile the code in the ket and ket/bin folders.

The program may be compiled and packaged into an executable jar.  In Windows,
the simplest way is to move to the ket\bin folder and execute the 'run.bat'
script.  
	cd ket\bin
	run.bat
which also runs the executed jar file.

Alternatively, there is an Apache ant build script in the ket folder.  To build
the project with ant first ensure ant is installed on your computer.  If not,
it can be found at http://ant.apache.org.  Next, type the following in a
command prompt
	cd ket
	ant
which should generate the sought jar file.


WHERE TO GET HELP

HTML  documentation is available from the Source Forge website which
provides an overview, tutorial and reference guide.  For an overview,
begin by looking at
	http://ket.sourceforge.net/overview.html
And to get started consult
	http://ket.sourceforge.net/gettingStarted.html
Furthermore, there is also a manual (a single pdf file) on the site.  

Alternatively, email questions or requests to the developer.


CONTRIBUTION GUIDELINES

Please provide any and all user feedback or bug reports to help improve
the program.  If you are have suggestions then consider sending feature
requests to direct the future of the project.  Furthermore, if you are a
programmer then please consider contributing to the code.


CONTRIBUTOR LIST

Alasdair C. Hamilton (achamilt@users.sourceforge.net)


CREDITS, INSPIRATION

The main inspirations for this program has been Vim (www.vim.org) from
which a number of key concepts (a modal interface, keyboard chords, and
a number of commands) have been derived.  Additionally, edit mode is
mostly modelled on the GNU Readline library.


ALTERNATIVES

In order to typeset mathematics, TeX or LaTeX produce publication
quality documents and may be written in a markup language.  Algebra may
be performed using Maple, Octave or Mathematica.  Numerical calculations
may be performed in interactive programs such as Mathematica, Octave or
Python.


LICENCE

Ket is free software released under the GPL.  See docs/gpl-3.0.txt for
more information.  This program is available for use by anyone, and is
provided free of charge and at the users own risk without warranty. 

JUnit has also been included in order to perform unit testing; it is a
separate project copyrighted under the Common Public License, version
1.0.

The JUnit unit testing framework has been used to test parts of the
codebase and is available at
	http://junit.sourceforge.net/
It has been included in the source for completeness.  It is however not
used by the program itself.