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Re: Mathematica as a programming language.

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg2851] Re: Mathematica as a programming language.
• From: "Harry A. Smith" <hasmith at garnet.acns.fsu.edu>
• Date: Wed, 27 Dec 1995 00:48:14 -0500
• Organization: Florida State University

ngjune at ecf.toronto.edu wrote:
> 
> I would really like to know why so many people choose Mathematica over
> other available programming languages.  I'm trying extremely hard to like
> it but I still don't know what makes it "the choice of millions of engineers,
> scientists, mathematicians, and students".
> 
> Who is going to be impressed by my knowledge of Mathematica?  Microsoft, IBM,
> and Corel don't care .. I'm not putting down Mathematica, but I'd like to
> know who uses it, and why do they prefer it over other languages.I use Mma to study Reaction Diffusion Models of varioys biological 
systems. These projects involve solving a series of coupled non-linear 
PDE's on a grid, plotting the results as surface plots and then 
anumating the plots. Mma's superior graphing routines makes these taks 
extremely easy to implement in one set of code. Also, the built-in 
functional capabilities of Mma make it very useful for studying problems 
that require symbolic analysis. For example, nearly all of the math 
commonly found in Advanced Engineering textx or management science texts 
can be handled via mma. In my own field of mathematical biology, the 
capabilities of mma to solve most problems I have encountered has been 
quite adequate.
While there are other systems, I have found more support for mma in 
terms of what is on the net as well as what in in printed material.
Check out "Mastering Mathematica", and "Mathematica For Scientists and 
Engineers" for discussions which indicate the possible scientific 
applications.
Take care.
-- 
Harry A. Smith
Professor of Biological Sciences
Tallahassee Community College
hasmith at garnet.acns.fsu.edu
"If you're not simulating, you're not stimulating!"