User Case Study: Research and Development of Optical Devices Using Maple

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Why did you start using Maple?

I specialize in the development of various optical devices; specifically, the structural design of future generation super-high speed optical switching devices and semiconductor lasers for DVD players. Generally speaking, research and development departments need to conduct numerous calculations and many experiments, while being severely limited by time. Thus, software that can improve R & D efficiency is very important. In the past, there was a software called REDUCE, which was designed for large-scale computers, but not many of us used it. Then I read an article in a mathematics journal that provided a comparative analysis of Maple and Mathematica. I started to use Maple because the article ranked Maple higher.

What are some of Maple's strengths?

FORTAN and BASIC were the languages I was using when I first tried Maple. Compared to these, I found that Maple was much easier to use and quicker–both in terms of writing calculations and obtaining output. The same was true about Maple's graphics. I think that these are Maple's greatest strengths. In addition, it is worth mentioning that fractions and matrices can be freely expressed, so that results can be checked visually with great ease. Matrix operations and calculations involving complex numbers are found everywhere in scientific research, but before Maple, it was tedious to do all that programming using other software. In this respect, I treasure the convenience of Maple. I also use Maple for presentations; its 3-dimensional representation is truly excellent. You can generate an extraordinarily beautiful expression, which cannot be duplicated using Excel. I consider this to be a great strength of Maple as well.

*This interview has been adapted from a Japanese translation. It was originally published in PC User Magazine, May 8, 2002, p. 3 (http://www.sbpnet.jp/pcuser) by Softbank Publishing Inc., Japan (http://www.sbpnet.jp).