Re: Book recommendation for Mathematica
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg9632] Re: Book recommendation for Mathematica
- From: cwhite <cwhite at cruzio.com>
- Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 19:49:41 -0500
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
zio.com Fri Nov 14 23:16:58 1997 Content-Length: 5990 The first time I brought up Mathematica 3.0 I thought: wow, this is a mighty potent program! I still say the same thing. Unfortunately, I have learned to exploit very little of Mathematica's total capability. I believe the following issues are largely responsible for my lack of progress: (1) Mathematica is a very powerful and unique program, but this probably causes a steep learning curve for using it as anything other than a super glorified symbolic calculator. (2) I've had trouble locating good books explaining how to program in Mathematica. There is probably little that can be done regarding the first concern. "All good things come at a price" and we should expect to make a reasonable effort to learn the language. The second concern is the one related to this thread - and the most painful. Nothing is more frustrating for a beginner than unnecessarily struggling with written tutorials/texts. I agree with others that this is the primary problem with Mathematica. I don't so much have a problem with "The Mathematica Book" because it is only intended as a reference and not as a teaching text. The same can be said about "Mathematica 3.0 Standard Add-On Packages" although I sometimes have difficulty finding what I need in either book. For example: how do I make a simple stem plot? I think the answer is in "Mathematica 3.0 Standard Add-On Packages" but not in any straightforward manner obvious to the beginner. I'm not so sure that "The Mathematica Book" needs to be 1400 pages - there seems to be some duplication in it. With that said I must admit that I've not attempted to make coherent critical analysis of it. I purchased Roman Maeders book "Programming In Mathematica," third edition. I find it to be a very poor book for a beginner. There was no warning on the cover that this is a book only for experienced users, programmers, and mathematicians. Maeder states in the preface that "The best way to teach Mathematica-specific programming methods is to look at examples of complete programs that solve some nontrivial problem." The "nontrivial" component of his statement reveals a deeply flawed pedagogical ideal that pervades his book. "Trivial" is exactly what examples should be. This is because it is important to avoid distraction from the primary purpose. I care little that Dr. Maeder considers plotting functions of complex variables "nontrivial" and somehow important. I didn't buy his text to obtain programming algorithms of what he cares about - I bought it to learn programming. He states that one doesn't need to understand the math of the examples to follow the examples. But a lack of recent experience with certain mathematical concepts can be distracting when they are used in the examples. I'm pushing for simplicity. By the time I'd gotten to page 4 of his text I'd been forced to refer to "The Mathematica Book" many times. "Programming In Mathematica" been on the shelf since then. Will it ever come down again? Maeder's book is not recommended. Regarding programming, I'm interested in John Gray's book and will be purchasing it - I hope I have better luck with it. I'm also interested in "An Introduction to Programming with Mathematica," Second Edition by Richard J. Gaylord, Samuel N. Kamin, and Paul R. Wellin. But the www.wolfram.com website neglects to mention whether or not this book is inclusive of version 3.x. Since it is not stated, I assume it is not and will not buy it. I have the "The Beginners Guide to Mathematica Version 3" by Jerry Glynn and Theodore W. Gray and I can say that it is decent for the beginner but it is not a programming text. They do encourage buying the CD-ROM version of their book more times than I'd like (since it's another $35 - no discounts for those that bought the hard copy). They don't like FOR loops and find them difficult to understand. I find this ironic for individuals who are obviously very bright. All in all I give "thumbs up" for The Beginners Guide to Mathematica Version 3. I repeat my belief in Mathematica's enormous power. I am willing to make a reasonable effort in learning the language. I am quite happy to have discovered this newsgroup and will not hesitate to post my questions. Peter wrote: > > : |Even though one may find > > : |a lot of references about Mathematica, few of them are really useful, > > : |and the end result is that the program is still poorly documented, | > > agreed > > > : Yes, it bugs me that there is virtually no documentation for the menu > > : command in Version 3.0. > > : But the Mathematica Book (3rd edition) is 1400 pages, and documents the > > : Kernal features very well. > > here here. > > > I still do not get what is it that makes the thick Mathematica 3.0 > > book a well documented reference. In my understanding, a well > > yes. this list is frequented by wolfram employees. please listen to > these people. the Mathematica book is decent, but suffers from some > major flaws. > > as for the 3.0 interface, i have not seen a single book document it in a > thorough way. most of the attempts are half hearted at best. > Mathematica is one of the best programs around, and wri, IMHO, is the > single best company in terms of customer support and satisfaction. > > the issue of documentation is the area in which Mathematica suffers the > most. if a book were to come out tomorrow that explains the 3.0 > notebook interface, i'd call up tomorrow after school with my visa in > hand.... > > peter > -- > Never criticize a man till you've walked a mile in his shoes. That way, > you'll be a mile away from him and have his shoes as well. > -==><==-+-+-==><==-+-+-==><==-+-+-==><==-+-+-==><==-+-+-==><==-+-+-==><==-+= -+-==><==-+-+-==><==- > Do you hate spam? 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