Group Explorer / News: Recent posts

Two known bugs that I plan to fix soon deserve mention:

1. Minor: There is an extra button on some toolbars that says "Dump .asy code." This was for debugging purposes and should be removed in the actual release. Oops.

2. Major: GE incorrectly reports Sylow p-subgroups of a p-group. For instance, in D_4, which is of order 8 (2^3), GE only looks for Sylow 2-subgroups from among the PROPER subgroups, and therefore misses the whole group itself, instead labeling all order-4 subgroups as Sylow 2-subgoups (incorrectly). [Bug around line 675 of idealist.cpp.]... read more

The latest release of Group Explorer (2.1.0) has the following important properties:
1. It fixes the bug in multiplication tables that had them doing their multiplication in the opposite order of what you would expect.
2. It removes the dependency on the Qt Undo/Redo framework, so users compiling from source can now build GE without having to BUY anything!
3. It is the last major release in the 2.* line. Future releases will be either small bug fixes, or someday I'll rehaul everything and make GE3.0.
4. Several other fixes you may be interested in; see the Change Log and/or Release Notes.

I had put the Group Explorer wiki at
http://groupexplorer.sourceforge.net/wiki
before SourceForge officially supported project WIkis.
Now they do officially support them, and so there is a nicer version of the same information nicely integrated into this SourceForge project's site; simply click the Wiki tab you see above (all the way on the right of the menu bar, near the Search button). Or you can just follow this URL:
http://groupexplorer.wiki.sourceforge.net

I mean, we have a wiki.
http://groupexplorer.sourceforge.net/wiki/
Anyone interested in contributing articles of any kind is free to do so. I admit I'm new to administering one of these, so let me know if you have any problems. I created it at the request of a user who thought it would be a good community-building device, which I'm all for. Ideas for things you could add to the wiki:
- Ways you as an instructor have used GE in class
- Ways you as a student have used GE outside of class
- Homework assignments or lessons that use GE
- Links to images or sheet files you've created with GE
- Tips or ideas that extend the current help system
- Anything else you think the user community could benefit from

Dear users,

This is just an update to let you know what's going on with GE.

But before the update: If you use GE in a class you teach, could you send me an email describing how you use it? It would greatly improve my ability to describe the utility of my work (in annual reports, grant applications, etc.) if I had testimonies from instructors who use it in class. Sending even a short sentence to say you use it, but don't have time to describe how, would be better than nothing, because it's one more for the head count. :) Thank you for any help you can give on this front.... read more

Please check out the changelog for release 2.0.9.2.

This release was made because one user reported one bug, and it was such a significant one that I fixed it right away and put up a new release.

GE was erroneously computing subgroups, and thus occasionally missing some (!). This seemed to happen pretty rarely, but did happen. It's now fixed. You'll obviously want the new version!

A new release, version 2.0.9 is out, fixing some bugs.
See the notes for that release for more information.
Also, you can now read the help documentation that comes built into the Group Explorer program online at this website. It's missing some of the auto-generated images and links that take action within the program, as you would of course expect, but it's 95% the same. Try it out here:
http://groupexplorer.sourceforge.net/help/

Windows users who downloaded version 2.0.5 and have not used GE before may find that it is missing a file called cc3250mt.dll. My apologies for building the installer incorrectly; an upcoming release of version 2.0.9 will fix this problem. In the meantime, feel free to fetch the file yourself here:
http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?cc3250mt
(It is free.)
My apologies for the inconvenience.
Nathan

Version 2.0.5 fixes a few bugs and adds a minor feature or two; see the notes in the Files section. There is also a new package, called groupdatafiles, from which you can download additional groups of higher orders. Thanks to the makers of FGB (Finite Group Behavior, http://unr.edu/homepage/keppelma/fgb.html\) for culling this data from GAP and making it freely available with their software.

The comments from the beta-testers are in and addressed.
The first non-beta release is available. Check the "Files" link above.

The Journal of Online Mathematics and its Applications now contains an article about Group Explorer. It is linked to from the front page (for awhile anyway), http://www.joma.org. To jump directly to the article, go to
http://www.joma.org/mathDL/4/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=684

Anyone can now download Group Explorer 2.0 beta, and play with it, test it, and use it to your heart's content. Feedback on features you would like to see is welcome. Feedback on bugs is especially welcome. I hope to have all major bugs that people report fixed by the end of 2005 so that I can have a nice stable non-beta release in time for Spring semester 2006.

I realized that although I have plenty of screenshots on my hard drive, I hadn't posted any to the SourceForge site. Nothing is going to change on these images before the release, so I think this posting is not premature. Enjoy 'em!

I have sent the Win and Mac versions out to beta testers, and some of them have already replied with tips, bugs, and compliments. I am responding accordingly, and expect that this process will continue for a few weeks, and then give a real release in the middle of November.

I set up this SourceForge site because I plan for a release next month. If I'm late, it may be the month after (i.e. November) but I hope to be on time. In fact, setting up this site is one more thing to check off my list!