Linear Hamiltonian behaviors and bilinear differential forms

We study linear Hamiltonian systems using bilinear and quadratic differential forms. Such a representation-free approach allows us to use the same concepts and techniques to deal with systems isolated from their environment and with systems subject to external influences and allows us to study systems described by higher-order differential equations, thus dispensing with the usual point of view in classical mechanics of considering first- and second-order differential equations only.