In addition to being an interactive environment for problem-solving, visualization, and technical document preparation, Maple also features a powerful programming language that is especially useful for working with mathematics. Becoming familiar with the Maple language will allow you to increase the range and efficiency of what you can do in Maple, from writing short scripts to automating a repetitive calculation, to creating interactive applications for students and developing new algorithms to advance your research.

This introductory course is intended for those who already have some familiarity with Maple, but who have little to no experience with programming in Maple.  This course will assume you have at least a small amount of experience with another programming or scripting language. People with no programming experience at all are still welcome to attend, but we recommend that they familiarize themselves with very basic programming concepts, such as loops and procedures, before the start of the course.

This course will cover the basics of the Maple language, common data structures, procedures and modules, tools to aid programming, and how to build simple interactive applications in the style of Maple’s Math Apps.

From the very beginning, it has been possible to program in Maple using some of the ideas from object oriented programming, but not everyone is aware that modern Maple provides full support for objects and object-oriented programming. In this course, we will discuss object oriented programming in Maple, including:

• How objects work
• The underlying data structure of modules, and some of their features, such as ModuleApply and ModulePrint
• Static vs non-static members
• Overloading built-in commands
• Best practices

This course is intended for those who have some experience programming in Maple, and who want to learn how to use objects to write clean, modular, modern Maple programs.

Maple documents can contain sliders, buttons, and other interactive elements that transform your document into an easy-to-use interactive application that requires no knowledge of Maple to use.  Creating these applications in Maple is surprisingly easy, and does not require programming experience. In this course, you will learn:

• How to make use of the Explore facility to create applications that explore the parameters of any expression, using only a single function call or context menu operation.
• How to build your own applications using Maple’s interactive embedded components, including sliders, dials, gauges, math entry boxes, check boxes, and more.
• Tips and tricks to ensure your application looks good and is easily maintainable.
• How to share your application through the MapleCloud, so your students and colleagues can access it easily, even if they don’t have Maple.

Attendees should have a basic familiarity with the Maple environment and using Maple commands.