Re: The Essence of Mathematica
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg37143] Re: [mg37134] The Essence of Mathematica
- From: Richard Palmer <mapsinc at bellatlantic.net>
- Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2002 05:56:24 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
I think a better place to look for the essential aspects of Mathematica are in rule application, pattern matching, and mathematical knowledge. I will be interested in hearing what other people have to say. Richard Palmer On 10/12/02 5:05 AM, "Steven" <hattons at speakeasy.net> wrote: > I'm attempting to identify the essential aspects of Mathematica. I believe > the > place to start is with the 'functional operations'. I'm seeking the > 'basis' of Mathematica. Kind of the orthonormal subset of functionality > which can be used to derive all the other. I'm also trying to be > pragmatic. I'm not trying to reinvent Mathematica, I'm just trying to > understand > the invention that already exists. > > If anyone is interested in seeing what I've gathered so far, I have a > notebook in both HTML, and Mathematica (4.2, if that matters) notebook format > available here: > > http://public.globalsymmetry.com/proprietary/com/wri/notebooks/with-gif/essent > ial/essential.nb > http://public.globalsymmetry.com/proprietary/com/wri/notebooks/with-gif/essent > ial/index.html > > Please let me know if you have any problems accessing these. The sysadmin is > kind of new at running a DNS server. The server may go down for a while at > sometime in the near future for an upgrade (SuSE Linux 8.0 -> 8.1). > Ideally that should take about an hour... and then there's reality... > > What I'm hoping for is some constructive feedback regarding my selection of > functions. I am aware that I've neglected the more advanced use of these > functions such as level specification. I'm trying to keep things as simple > as possible. I'm not looking for the obfuscated Mathematica challenge. Not > just > yet. I'm seeking the examples which, if correctly understood, will make > other Mathematica functionality fall into place. I believe there is also a > set of > 'procedural operators' which can properly be treated separately. I hope to > get to them soon. > > I know I've received some very good feedback on other questions I've asked > on the news group. I owe people responses to their thoughtful input. I > hope to address these soon. I am very grateful to all who have responded > to my questions. > > STH