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Getting Started
Sym is a tool for creating and manipulating symbolic content. By symbolic content, we mean both mathematical expressions and other symbolic content (source code is one example). Almost anything that can be represented as a tree of symbols can potentially be content in Sym. The topics in the Getting Started section of the documentation cover installing Sym and starting to use Sym.
Commands
Commands are used both to construct and manipulate expressions. Typically, single-character keystrokes are used to invoke commands. For example, the "s" keystroke normally runs the Simplify command on the highlighted expression.
Commands Used to Create and Edit Expressions
The Backspace, Enter, Delete, and Insert keystrokes are all tied to commands so that the action of these keystrokes on expressions can be modified and extended as new libraries are created.

Getting Started
Sym is a tool for creating and manipulating symbolic content. By symbolic content, we mean both mathematical expressions and other symbolic content (source code is one example). Almost anything that can be represented as a tree of symbols can potentially be content in Sym. The topics in the Getting Started section of the documentation cover installing Sym and starting to use Sym.
- Installing Sym
  Sym includes a Windows installer. The installation requirements and info about the install destination are listed below.
- Using Sym
  To get started using Sym, you need to understand the basics of how documents and content are created and edited.
- Documents
  Every document has two main components; the document content that you create and the libraries that define the objects and functionality available in the document. Documents will nearly always have a reference to least one library. Without any libraries loaded there would be virtually no functionality available in the document.
- Commands
  Commands are used both to construct and manipulate expressions. Typically, single-character keystrokes are used to invoke commands. For example, the "s" keystroke normally runs the Simplify command on the highlighted expression.
  - Creating and Editing Commands
    Commands allow you to manipulate expressions. Each command defines the function that will be executed when the command is applied to the highlighted expression. Commands typically also have a shortcut key assigned to them.
  - The Result List Pop-up
    The result list pop-up provides a way for the user to select a result when a command returns multiple expressions.
  - Commands Used to Create and Edit Expressions
    The Backspace, Enter, Delete, and Insert keystrokes are all tied to commands so that the action of these keystrokes on expressions can be modified and extended as new libraries are created.
  - The SymCommands Example File
    In the example files there is a file called SymCommands.equ. This file covers the use of many of the commands in the Sym application.
  - Default commands
    Some of the commands are created by default because we need these commands to exist even if they aren't defined in any of the referenced libraries. Creating these commands allows the appropriate default behavior to exist for these keystrokes even when no libraries are referenced.

Commands Used to Create and Edit Expressions

The Backspace, Enter, Delete, and Insert keystrokes are all tied to commands so that the action of these keystrokes on expressions can be modified and extended as new libraries are created.

Commands used to create and edit expressions include:

The Backspace command is designed to behave as much like an ordinary backspace on a line of text as is possible.
The Enter command works on some objects to insert a new parameter or to start a list. For example, if the highlight is on the left-hand side of an Assert, the Enter key will create an And object. On the right-hand side of an Assert, the Enter key will create an ElseList.
The Insert command typically adds another parameter to an expression.
The Delete command typically replaces the highlighted expression with an empty box.

The Building Expressions section describes other commands (like "+", "-", etc.) that are used to construct new expressions.