MathXplorer/JS, Math Server for the WWW

The MathWizards, Inc. is pleased to beta-release MathXplorer/JS to the UNIX and Windows NT communities. MathXplorer/JS is a software package that provides efficient, distributed, and platform-independent numerical computing services. At the core MathXplorer/JS lies a matlab-compatible MathViews numerical computation engine. Java applications (or applets) access the engine through a set of Java libraries. The applications may run over a network or on the same host computer as the engine.

This beta release of MathXplorer/JS contains only limited visualization support. We are working on enhancing the cross-platform graphics support in the near future. Currently, we are using the 2D Graph Java package, written by Leigh Brookshaw and licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. 

A MathXplorer/JS client program, is a Java program which uses the MathWizards Java package to communicate with a local and/or remote MathXplorer/JS Math Server. The client application/applet accesses the remote and/or local MathXplorer/JS computational services via Java's RMI API. MathXplorer/JS is a stand-alone, local Java program which can be accessed simultaneously by multiple clients. It evaluates matlab-compatible MathViews scripts and commands on the clients' behalf.

Currently, MathXplorer/JS is available for the operating systems listed below. Although the MathXplorer/JS currently runs only on these platforms, client applets, running on any standard Java 1.1 platform may access the MathXplorer/JS services over a network. In addition, Java programs running on the supported platforms may access the MathXplorer/JS services computational services directly without incurring the network communications overhead.

Installation

  1. Download the latest JDK 1.1 and MathXplorer/JS distribution for your operating system:
    OS JDK MathXplorer/JS
    WindowsNT http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk WindowsNT.zip
    Linux http://www.blackdown.org Linux.tar.gz
    FreeBSD http://www.freebsd.org FreeBSD.tar.gz
    Solaris http://www.javasoft.com/products/jdk Solaris.tar.gz
  2. Install the JDK and verify your installation by running the demonstration applets bundled with it.
  3. Uncompress and unpack the MathXplorer/JS distribution
  4. Validate your MathXplorer/JS installation by running the the scripts in the bin sub directory of the top level MathXplorer/JS directory. You will need to modify the scripts slightly to reflect the location of the MathXplorer/J and JDK installations. Specifically, you will have to change the MXJ_HOME, JDK environment variables. Four scripts are available which invoke Java demonstrations classes:
    runlocalapp runs an stand-alone application which connects to the native MathXplorer/JS on the localhost.
    runlocalapplet runs an applet which connects to the native MathXplorer/JS on the localhost.
    runclientapplet runs an applet which connects with to MathXplorer/JS. By default, the applet connects to the MathXplorer/JS on the MathWizards web site.
    runserver runs the MathXplorer/JS. The host running the server should also run a web server. Place the examples sub directory under the web server's document root, so that sub directory and its contents are visible to web browsers.
    These scripts assume that you have not changed the default MathXplorer/J directory structure.

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