Mathematica Assistant palette
Beta Release Version 0.71
The driving force behind the development of the Mathematica Assistant palette (download the palette here) was the installation of an interactive whiteboard in one of our classrooms at the college and the realization it would be very useful to control Mathematica while standing at the whiteboard. Being able to input commands and calculations without having access to a keyboard became a necessity rather than an interesting idea. However, the palette has applications beyond an interactive whiteboard interface - it works with tablet pc's and provides an efficient way of inputing Mathematica commands using a keyboard and mouse. I added the formatting buttons from the Student and Writing palette so this single palette can replace both of these earlier palettes.
There are many tooltips implemented for the buttons giving keyboard shortcuts, descriptions, and command syntax reminders where appropriate. The many popup menu items have useful reminders for appropriate input. Download the palette and explore the tooltips.
The upper region of the palette functions like a scientific
calculator where calculations can be entered into a
notebook by clicking on buttons and evaluated with a click
of the Enter button. Most of the buttons have tooltips
assigned using large fonts to make reading the tooltip
easier on the eyes when working at an interactive
whiteboard ... but the larger font is also useful on small
dot pitch LCD screens. The three rows beginning with the
Tab button focus on cursor movement, deleting content,
pasting previous input or output, and entering a new line.
The Notebook and View drop down lists contain useful
notebook operations.
The middle region of the palette focuses on color
highlighting, character insertion, and general notebook
writing & formatting tasks. The highlight tab will
quickly change font and background colors - by individual
characters, words, or entire cells.
The roman alphabet together with the Name
Complete button ( identical to the
Edit->Complete Selection menu item ) allows any
Mathematica command or symbol to be entered with just a few
clicks.
The writing tab contains buttons which support the creation
of very nice looking notebooks. The Y=X is probably the
most useful button for writing notebooks containing
formatted mathematica content centered on the page with
multiple lines aligned on the equal sign.
The command region of the palette groups Mathematica
commands into functional tabs: numeric commands, algebraic
commands, 2d plotting commands, calculus commands, 3d
plotting commands, list related commands, and matrix
commands. The 2d and 3d tabs contain drop down lists for
many of the common options, and buttons for the names
Thick, Thin, Dashed, True, False, Automatic, None, and
fourteen color names that are often used in plot options.
The buttons insert commands (or options) into a notebook
containing placeholders for standard arguments. The cursor
focus can be moved from placeholder to placeholder using
the Tab key on the palette, or the keyboard, as the
placeholders are filled in.
Additional information as to how to use the palette will be
coming as time permits ... hopefully video tutorials will
appear here soon.