My first experience with symbolic manipulation was on main frame computers, using the fortran and PL-1 versions of FORMAC. After I assembled my first microcomputer in 1981, I wrote a series of programs that I used extensively in subsequent research. The one that I am currently using is called the Grad Student Rational Calculator and it is written in the MuLisp dialect of Lisp, popular in artificial intelligence programming. It can be compiled or the source code can be executed by a MuLisp interpreter.
To use the program, one writes a source file with a .in suffix. Any output which is produced is placed in a file with a .out suffix. The name Rational Calculator derives from the fact that only rational expressions are understood, and the appellation Grad Student derives from the fact that I made the software available to my graduate students. The principal feature that distinguishes the Grad Student Rational Calculator from other symbolic manipulation software is its fluency with respect to differential forms.
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