Designing Tools for Scientific Thought
a year ago
- #scientific-tools
- #mathematics
- #hypertext
- Jon Sterling discusses the design of 'tools for scientific thought' with a focus on mathematical sciences.
- Defines 'tool for scientific thought' as facilitating the development and interlinking of scientific ideas for various purposes including authoring, publishing, and learning.
- Explores the concept of 'evergreen notes'—permanent notes that evolve over time, emphasizing atomicity and explicit dependency.
- Highlights the importance of hierarchy in organizing mathematical knowledge, contrasting it with purely associative systems.
- Discusses the necessity of structured notational macros in mathematical writing to manage changes in notation over time.
- Examines existing tools for scientific thought, categorizing them into interactive proof assistants and textual authoring tools like LaTeX.
- Addresses the challenges of mathematical diagramming and the tight coupling between mathematical expressions and diagrams.
- Proposes Forester, a tool designed for scientific thought, combining tag-based organization with static content generation and support for mathematical notations and diagrams.