4. Formal calculation and applications

4.1 Software development problems

When an engineer or researcher is faced with a problem whose solution requires numerous symbolic manipulations, they may choose to write a program or a set of programs in a common programming language such as Fortran, C, C++ or Lisp. A priori, any powerful programming language is suitable, but some have features that make the task easier.

The ability to define complex structures in C facilitates the presentation of objects to be manipulated. A language of the Lisp family opens up the possibilities of functional programming. In most cases, such programs, which can be called dedicated, prove highly effective in solving the problem or class of problems for which they were designed.

However, it is not uncommon...