# form-dev/form

The FORM project for symbolic manipulation of very big expressions

Repository: https://github.com/form-dev/form
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/form-dev-form
Language: C
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2026-08-19T02:56:14+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 87/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 66, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4739, "days_push": 14, "days_rel": 70, "gap_med": 148, "n_releases_24m": 2}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1239, forks 154 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:05.955560+00:00)

## What it is
FORM is a symbolic manipulation system written in C that reads symbolic expressions from files and performs algebraic transformations, outputting results in textual mathematical notation. Its landmark feature is that expression size is limited only by available disk space rather than RAM, making it essential for large computations in high energy physics.

## Use cases
- manipulate very large symbolic algebraic expressions
- perform pattern matching and rewriting on symbolic terms
- compute Feynman diagram algebra for high energy physics
- expand polynomial expressions too big for memory
- run symbolic computations using disk instead of RAM
- automate algebraic transformations via a scripting language

## When to choose
- expressions are too large to fit in RAM in other CAS tools
- you need fast term-by-term symbolic rewriting at scale
- your field is high energy physics or perturbative quantum field theory
- you want a scriptable, batch-oriented computer algebra system

## When to avoid
- you need interactive GUI-based symbolic math like Mathematica
- you need numerical computation or plotting rather than symbolic manipulation
- you need a library to embed in another program rather than a standalone tool

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: interpreter, math, parser
- domain: mathematics
- platform: windows, cli, cross-platform
- tags: computer-algebra, symbolic-manipulation, high-energy-physics, big-expressions, scientific-computing, physics, command-line, algorithms, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- form-dev/form (main) score 87

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:05.955560+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T05:09:57.352559+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/form-dev/form (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:05.955560+00:00, sha 0afca532bc21)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.