Not to highjack this thread, but I just put in a request for an eng-tips public forum/group dedicated to SMath. Apparently they charge money to start a group, so this might be a no-go on the group. Maybe they will add the group for free?
Absolutely, the collapsible areas are great for hiding scratch work or the matrix stuff that you still want to be able to access digitally.
KootK, I'm no matrix/vector math guru, but it has the basics down just fine.
I'm not aware of a built-in solve block, but wouldn't be surprised if a solve block like plugin was out there.
As far as longevity -- we know as much as any other software. It seems this is a hobby for the creator. It's not open source, but he has stated in the past that if development were to stop, he'd make the source available in some form. So overall, I feel good about SMath despite sharing your general wariness in that regard.
Attached SMath for Steel Properties... with SMath I generally cut & paste items to make a new program... this is my 'template' for steel properties that would be added into a new steel based program...
I tried to open a few of my old Mathcad files and none of them worked but it did bring in most of the stuff so it is a big leg up in getting them rebuilt. It also will force me to give them a top-to-bottom rethink which isn't a bad thing to do from time to time.
I looking at my old Mathcad files translated into SMath it appears that most of the errors are due to it thinking that variables are units. Is there a way to turn off units? Someone earlier asked why I didn't use units and that is why. I like to use variables as close to the ones in textbook and code equations that the units seem to mess that up.
The other errors were from the logic blocks. They did not seem to translate at all.
Could you please post an example of your suggestions:
.... modify your Excel workflow to be really transparent by:
-stacking calculation blocks
-using switch cells instead of multiple nested IF clauses
-using named variables, especially for unit conversions
