mathcad: 15 years of bugs

[theslayermon]

what i find more annoying is how it seems to have problems with brackets, sometimes it wont let you put them in at all, other times when you are trying to delete something it adds random brackets. i have to use mathcad for part of a module of my masters in physics and i pretty much havent stopped bitching about it



[SaM52461]

is this still the case in v15????????

[dndn1011]

@SaM52461 Question rejected because of overuse of ! !!!!!!!!!!!!

[SaM52461]

@dndn1011

Do you have version 15? I just discovered another bug...when intsert an x-y plot (y= sin(x) and go to trace, it crashes. Anytime I click on trace it crashes and won't let me save my work!

[orfinalj]

I am running quad core vista, with mathcad 15, and the problem seems to be there when you copy still. It does go away if you delete what you just copied, but then it would be missing the point, wouldn't it?

[dndn1011]

@orfinalj great, thanks for the info. Perhaps we can do something to help PTC. I have created a form. See description.

[scrumsiparacetamol]

there may be more than one reason for the delays. starting form your computer configuration, the complexity of what you're copying, the number of programs you're running in the background, the number of equations on the clipboard. And its true, the dots are a problem, but just hit refresh. :)

[dndn1011]

@scrumsiparacetamol As you can see on the video, there is a large delay when copying expressions as simple as a single letter. I have tried this software on different computers with the same result. I get this problem with no programs running the background, and an empty clipboard. Was all that not clear in the video? ;)

[donepearce]

Funny, I can't replicate any of these bugs. Copying and pasting are both instant, and there are no odd lines left behind when I do it.

[dndn1011]

@donepearce which version?

[donepearce]

@dndn1011 Any of them - right up to 14 currently. I strated using Mathcad in DOS, in fact. How clean is your operating systm?

[nnory]

Thank you! Your video helped me make my choise! Spreadsheets will be.

[TheReasonWhyGuy]

some of those "bugs" are processing lag related issues... at least so far as I can tell :P

[topito2]

interesting!!!!!

[PhilipLeitch]

I understand and agree with your frustration. But I use a number of expensive software packages upto and including ERP software and I'm yet to see any software free of bugs. Also, I didn't get anywhere near the delays you did - so maybe it is the processor power of my computer? Whatever the case there are issues that haven't been addressed for many versions. But from my perspective these are only frustrations and the package is still powerful and complete enough to be essential to my job.

[leparditas]

v.14

there is a fix you can download from internet now i cant remerber the name

but you can google it

[leparditas]

for me copy works fine

[dndn1011]

@leparditas which version?

[SJAndrew]

I've been using MAthCAD for about ten years now and it's without a doubt the worst piece of crap I've ever used in my professional career. I have vendor software written by part time programmers thats 10X less buggy.

The only good thing I can say about this turd of a program is that it's forced me to learn to say about every 30 seconds (a good habit).

There are SO MANY stupid idiosyncrasies with this software - scrolling too fast will lock it, opying delays, unit refreshing etc.

[bbeirinckx]

Mmm... I don't agree.

Sure there are bugs that sometimes are quite annoying. On the other hand, I happen to know that PTC is rewriting Mathcad from scratch. I've had a look at Mathcad Prime Preview, which was not usable. It gave some insight in what could be expected from the GUI side of it. PTC is rewriting it in C++.

PTC does release bugfixes. Mathcad 14 is currently M030 and a new one is expected shortly.

I've been using Mathcad since 1994 and still love it. Nothing compares to it.

[AlexPleaseHelpDotCom]

I use mathcad all the time. I don't understand PTC's problem either. Perhaps an email campaign is in order.

[Hounddogg36]

Mathcad is full of bugs. I do like using it though, generally better than preparing a complicated excel sheet.

[tralston555]

Amen, brother! I'm a chemical engineering student at BYU, and we live and die by this software, though it's mostly dying by it! I really wish PTC would man-up and take control of the software instead of being a bunch of cowards and not doing anything. Do they realize that the last version was released 2 years ago? They do release updates, but for one bug at a time, and no MAJOR revisions are released. I suggest investing in other software like Mathematica or MATLAB.

[mehicogeeves]

How many of these bugs have you logged ?

have you ever considered the possibility that the pause is probably related to some OS flaw, and that is why it is still there ?

I have seen a windows service pack totally screw up a piece of software because Microsoft changed what memory space dlls occupied.

[dndn1011]

The dotted lines not clearing bug has been there for 15 years on all versions of windows.

[eheister2006]

Yeah, it has bugs. Try buying MATLAB, it is 4x the cost of MathCAD

[donkanonjimisao]

since 1903... wow youre old

[dndn1011]

lol '93 1993 ;)

[2bsirius]

I was going to suggest that you attach this video to an email to PTC's tech support, but I assume they would ignore it.

It's eerie how companies are great at selling software, but not at supporting it...and if you do FINALLY contact tech support, they just tell you that there must be something wrong with your computer configuration...

It would be funny if I hadn't pulled out so much of my hair over stuff just like this...

[b1heqh54]

Is that opportunity I smell?

[fuzzyargy]

So many companies now days have bought out other software companies and know nothing about the core program. They end up losing the core staff that created the original product and can only carelessly patch the product from there on in.

This is, in many cases where the software needs a complete vanilla re-write.

[dndn1011]

very true! Although what it would take to simply make control-R automatic after a copy a paste is beyond me :)