Terry Tao successfully migrated old Java applets to modern JavaScript with AI help, revitalizing educational tools. This transition demonstrates the potential of AI in simplifying software updates and enhancing usability within educational contexts.
Terry Tao, interested in machine-assisted mathematics education since 1999, began migrating old applets to a modern repository recently.
Old applets, originally coded in Java 1.0, became non-functional due to outdated web standards. The revitalization occurs through the use of modern AI coding agents.
Tao experimented with an AI agent to port two dozen applets to JavaScript, successfully getting them operational again in a few hours.
The new applets include visual enhancements such as colorization, improving their educational value.
The porting process revealed only one minor bug while improving some aspects of the original code.
The AI agent also identified bugs in the original Java applets, leading to an overall quality improvement.
Encouraged by the ease of the porting process, Tao attempted to code new apps, including a visualization tool for special relativity.
This project, originally abandoned due to complexity, was successfully realized through collaboration with the AI agent.
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Terry Tao successfully migrated old Java applets to modern JavaScript with AI help, revitalizing educational tools. This transition demonstrates the potential of AI in simplifying software updates and enhancing usability within educational contexts.