Computers and Computation

Software Developed

I have written several commerically successful software packages, the most notable of which are the statistical software packages sold by Productivity-Quality Systems which is a company I founded with my father in 1981.

• SQCPack, a statistical quality control package
• DOEPack, a package for doing industrial design of experiments
• GagePack, a gage calibration package
• Statistical Training and Analysis Techniques System (STATS), a general purpose statistical package

Mathematica

We use the computer algebra system Mathematica (from Wolfram Research) here in our teaching at CSUF. I have written a number of items as part of our effort to use Mathematica in our calculus sequence as well as upper division and graduate courses.

• Vector and Multivariate Calculus: Some Mathematica Explorations, Kennel Press, 1998, 120 pages.
  A Mathematica workbook for multivariate calculus students, with topics ranging from partial differentiation to Stokes' theorem. Covers some introductory aspects of the functional programming of Mathematica. This text is used in our Math 77 third-semester multivariate and vector calculus course here at CSUF.

• Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, and Fourier Series: Mathematica Workbook for Scientists and Engineers, Kennel Press, 1998, 108 pages.
  A collection of Mathematica examples, explanations and exercises covering topics including Laplace transform, series solutions to differential equations, linear dynamical systems, Fourier series, and numerical techniques. This text is used in our Math 81 fourth-semester calculus course here at CSUF, which includes differential equations, linear systems, Fourier series and other analysis tools useful to scientists and engineers.

• The Mathematica Mystery Tour (with Larry Cusick), Kennel Press, 1998, 80 pages.
  An introductory book suitable for all calculus students interested in getting acquainted with symbolic algebra, calculus, plotting and programming in Mathematica.

• The CSUF Calculus Mathematica Competency Statement which summarizes our departmental expectations of students facility with Mathematica in various courses as well as giving some examples.

Teaching

I have taught a wide range of programming and structures courses at UCLA's Program in Computing which is the UCLA Mathematics Department's program to teach programming and computer science to a general audience.

Apple Computers

I have been a longtime user of Apple Computers.

• Powerbook Duo Dock Page with a fix for the dreaded Tick of Death
  I am a big fan of Apple's (now discontinued) line of Duo Powerbooks. These Duos are very small notebooks which can be inserted (like a tape into into a VCR) into a desktop dock to become a desktop machine. They have the best of both the portable and desktop worlds, and are smaller than comparable vintage laptops. I have acquired a collection of Apple DuoDocks. These fine products are unfortunately susceptible to the Tick of Death failure in which the power supply starts ticking instead of supplying power. The fix for this failure is not too bad and involves soldering a replacement capacitor onto the power supply board- I describe this process on the Duo page above.

• MacBSD/NetBSD
  This is a good free implementation of Unix for older (68k) Macs that runs well on IIcx's and IIci's, for example. One good way of having a constructive, productive semi-retirement for older Macs is to use MacBSD to run them as web servers.

• LinuxPPC
  There is a very good implementation of Linux for most PCI PPC macs. I have worked to get the system set up for the Powerbook G3 Original, which can be set up as a dual-boot machine. A good source of information about LinuxPPC is the LinuxPPC FAQ-o-Matic to which I have contributed solutions about Powerbook G3 Original configuration problems as well as ways of using an external HD install on machines with both single and dual SCSI busses. I can highly reccommend Benjamin Herrenschmidt's page which contains BootX, a very useful tool which dramatically simplifies LinuxPPC installation and booting, for which I worked as a beta-tester.

• Our department has a 30 station lab of NeXTs which we have been very happy with and gotten great mileage from as instructional machines running Mathematica.

• I have been a longtime fan of mh an excellent mail handler for Unix. The old man page for mh had a subtitle something like "How to get 100 mail messages a day and still get work done." which summarizes its usefulness. The package mh is a scriptable collection of commands and if you want to compile it for the (somewhat nonstandard) Unix on NeXTs, send me mail for some benevolent wisdom.

• The various successes of networked Linux boxes in the Beowulf projects are exciting and I am hoping to get a chance to build my own cluster for a dirt-cheap supercomputer.

• Dr. Cleary's homepage