1.Using the interpreter

The interpretor starts with the command:

mmx-light

The options of the shell can be printed via mmx-light –help .

Three main modes are possible:

• Interactive mode: input is read from the keyboard line by line and evaluated once the key [] is pressed:

  Mmx]

  1+1

  

  Mmx]

  To exit the interpretor, use the command quit.

• Batch mode: the standart input has been redirected to a file.

  For instance with mmx-light file.mmx

• Texmacs mode: the shell is used from a Texmacs session.

  This mode is actived by the –texmacs option

2.The environment files

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

3.Loading external libraries

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).

Under some Linux distributions you may face a problem with SELinux whenever it is in standard strict mode. Indeed SELinux will prevent you from loading Mathemagix's dynamic librairies. As a solution you can go to your administration / security menu and Allow the use of shared libraries with Text Relocation. We strongly recommend you to refer to the SELinux documentation to really know what this change involves for the global security of your system.