<s>
Symbolic	B-General_Concept
Manipulation	I-General_Concept
Program	I-General_Concept
,	O
usually	O
called	O
SMP	B-General_Concept
,	O
was	O
a	O
computer	B-General_Concept
algebra	I-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
designed	O
by	O
Chris	O
A	O
.	O
Cole	O
and	O
Stephen	O
Wolfram	O
at	O
Caltech	O
circa	O
1979	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
initially	O
developed	O
in	O
the	O
Caltech	O
physics	O
department	O
with	O
contributions	O
from	O
Geoffrey	O
C	B-Language
.	O
Fox	O
,	O
Jeffrey	O
M	O
.	O
Greif	O
,	O
Eric	O
D	O
.	O
Mjolsness	O
,	O
Larry	O
J	O
.	O
Romans	O
,	O
Timothy	O
Shaw	O
,	O
and	O
Anthony	O
E	O
.	O
Terrano	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SMP	B-General_Concept
was	O
first	O
sold	O
commercially	O
in	O
1981	O
,	O
by	O
the	O
Computer	O
Mathematics	O
Corporation	O
of	O
Los	O
Angeles	O
,	O
which	O
later	O
became	O
part	O
of	O
Inference	O
Corporation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Inference	O
further	O
developed	O
the	O
program	O
and	O
marketed	O
it	O
commercially	O
from	O
1983	O
to	O
1988	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
was	O
not	O
a	O
commercial	O
success	O
,	O
and	O
Inference	O
became	O
pessimistic	O
about	O
the	O
market	O
for	O
symbolic	O
math	O
programs	O
,	O
and	O
so	O
abandoned	O
SMP	B-General_Concept
to	O
concentrate	O
on	O
expert	B-Application
systems	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
SMP	B-General_Concept
was	O
influenced	O
by	O
the	O
earlier	O
computer	B-General_Concept
algebra	I-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
Macsyma	B-Language
(	O
of	O
which	O
Wolfram	O
was	O
a	O
user	O
)	O
and	O
Schoonschip	B-Application
(	O
whose	O
code	O
Wolfram	O
studied	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SMP	B-General_Concept
follows	O
a	O
rule-based	O
approach	O
,	O
giving	O
it	O
a	O
"	O
consistent	O
,	O
pattern-directed	O
language	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
Macsyma	B-Language
and	O
Reduce	B-Language
,	O
it	O
was	O
written	O
in	O
C	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
1980s	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
generally	O
available	O
general-purpose	O
computer	B-General_Concept
algebra	I-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
along	O
with	O
Reduce	B-Language
,	O
Macsyma	B-Language
,	O
and	O
Scratchpad	B-Language
,	O
and	O
later	O
muMATH	B-Language
and	O
Maple	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
design	O
of	O
SMP	B-General_Concept
's	O
interactive	O
language	O
and	O
its	O
"	O
map	O
"	O
commands	O
influenced	O
the	O
design	O
of	O
the	O
1984	O
version	O
of	O
Scratchpad	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
SMP	B-General_Concept
has	O
been	O
criticized	O
for	O
various	O
characteristics	O
,	O
notably	O
its	O
use	O
of	O
floating-point	B-Algorithm
numbers	I-Algorithm
instead	O
of	O
exact	O
rational	O
numbers	O
,	O
which	O
can	O
lead	O
to	O
incorrect	O
results	O
,	O
and	O
makes	O
polynomial	B-Algorithm
greatest	I-Algorithm
common	I-Algorithm
divisor	I-Algorithm
calculations	I-Algorithm
problematic	O
.	O
</s>
