# OpenDreamKit
## The developer's perspective
![](/public/logos/odk_logo_small.png)
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# Trends from the last decade(s)
## Emergence of a vibrant ecosystem of **open source software** for pure mathematics
- Specialized libraries: [LinBox](http://www.linalg.org/), [PARI/GP](http://pari.math.u-bordeaux.fr/), [MPIR](http://mpir.org/), [Singular](http://www.singular.uni-kl.de/), ...
- General purpose systems: [GAP](http://www.gap-system.org/), [SageMath](http://www.sagemath.org/), ...
- Online databases: [OEIS](https://oeis.org/), [LMFDB](http://www.lmfdb.org/), ...
- Interactive computing environments:
[IPython/Jupyter](https://jupyter.org/), [SageMathCloud](https://cloud.sagemath.com/), ...
- Together with the wider Scientific Python ecosystem
--
## Viable alternatives to Maple, Mathematica, Matlab, ...
For:
- Research
- Education
- Industry?
--
## A successful development model ...
- By users, for users
- Indirect funding via research grants and work of permanent researchers and engineers
- Large international developer communities (300 for SageMath)
## ... with some limitations
- Some highly technical tasks are lagging behind:
- Hard to justify work on them for a researcher
- Hard to justify work on them on a research grant
- Impeding the wide adoption of those systems
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# Funding needs
## A few full time developers
Aka [Research Software Engineers]()
## Community building
- Training and development workshops
- Developer visits
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# OpenDreamKit (2015-2019)
*Open Digital Research Environment Toolkit
for the Advancement of Mathematics*
[OpenDreamKit.org](OpenDreamKit.org)
- [Horizon 2020](https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/)
[European Research Infrastructures](https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/european-research-infrastructures-including-e-infrastructures)
Work Programme
Call: Virtual Research Environments
- Budget: 7.6 million euros
- [15 sites, 50 participants](http://opendreamkit.org/partners)
In close collaboration with the international community!
- [We are recruiting](/joinus)
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# Aims
- Foster the ecosystem of open source software for pure mathematics
and beyond
- Deliver a flexible Virtual Research Environment toolkit supporting
collaborative work on *software*, *data*, and *knowledge*
- Sustain long term viability by outsourcing components or joining
forces with the wider community whenever possible
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# Main tasks
- Modularization and interfaces between systems
- Build, documentation, tests systems
- Portability, distribution, deployment
- High Performance
- Interactive collaborative computing environments
- Mathematical databases
- Research on social aspects of math soft development
- Community building and training
TODO: link to tasks
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# More reading
- The [mathematician's perspective](/about-mathematicians) on OpenDreamKit.
- [About OpenDreamKit](/about)