1.Terminal interface

The Mmx-light interpreter starts with the command:

Shell] 

mmx-light

If you use the interpreter in a textual context, several shortcuts can be very useful such as:

• [Ctr-A], [Ctr-E] to go to the beginning or end of the instruction line,

• , for the previous and next instruction lines,

• [tab] for name completion,

• [Meta-return] to add an extra line to the current instruction line when using a text terminal. Note that on several platforms the [Meta] key is binded to [Alt]. On the Mac OS X terminal, unless the [Alt] key has been specifically set so from the terminal preferences menu, one must type [esc] and then [return]. Within a TeXmacs session, one has to type [Shift-return].

Different modes are available:

• type_mode? := true; to print the type information with the result of an evaluation in the interpreter.

• time_mode? := true; to print the time needed to evaluate an instruction line when it is bigger than 1 ms.

• debug_mode? := true; to print debug information when an error occurs;

• quiet_mode? := true; to print only the input command and opt result of an evaluation (no prompt, no banner);

2.Loading Mathemagix files

A classical way to develop Mathemagix code is to edit files and load them from the interpreter. As an example, we give below the content of a file step1.mmx (in mmxtools/mmx):

f (n: Int): Int == { 
  if n < 2 then return n; 
  else {
    mmout << n << "\n";
    if n mod 2 = 0 then return f (n quo 2);
    else return f (3*n + 1);
  }
}

It can be used from the interpreter as follows:

Mmx]  

include "mmxlight/step1.mmx"

Mmx]  

f 5

3.Using Mmx-light files as scripts

The interpreter can be used directly with a file:

mmx-light step1.mmx

Mathemagix files can also be used as scripts, as shown in this example:

#!/usr/bin/env mmx-light
m: Double := 0.0;
for i in 1..#argv do
  m := m + as_double argv[i];
mmout << "Mean: " << m / (#argv-1) << "\n";

If this code is saved into a file, say mean, it can be used as follows:

chmod u+x mean
./mean 3.2 5.6 -1.7

Mean: 2.36666666667

provided that the command mmx-light is available.

4.Loading a package

The command to load and use the types and functions exported by an external library is use:

use "package";

Here the dynamic library libmmxpackage.so will be searched in the loading path (see variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH or DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH).

5.The environment files

The first time the shell is launched it creates a .mathemagix in the home directory. A warning message is printed.

The file .mathemagix/etc/boot.mmx is automatically loaded at startup. This is the right place to customize the shell and to load the packages you frequently use. In order to load packages you can proceed as follows:

if supports? "numerix" then use "numerix";
if supports? "algebramix" then use "algebramix";

Prior to user's boot file a global boot file (usually /usr/local/etc/mathemagix/boot.mmx) is loaded. In case you wish to disable both boot files use the option –noboot within the mmx-light command.

Within an interactive session, ending a line with a ';' actually means finishing with a null instruction. As a consequence this extra ';' prevents from printing the output of the previous instruction.

6.Help function

Help on functions and types can be obtained with the help command:

Mmx]  

help Generator Generic

Mmx]  

help infix +