Re: New version, new bugs
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg42582] Re: New version, new bugs
- From: "Ersek, Ted R" <ErsekTR at navair.navy.mil>
- Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 03:45:03 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
In response to some reported bugs Andrzej Kozlowski wrote:
I agree that the other bugs you mention are awful and ought to have been
fixed long ago. Some of them at least seem pretty trivial to fix and it
seems that the only reason why they haven't been fixed is that they were
never recorded on a "to be done" list. I feel that something is seriously
amiss when a reported bug that does not require a major re-write of the
kernel is not fixed: at least the person who reported it ought to be given
an explanation why it has not been done. It looks to me that Wolfram's
entire bug-reporting system needs a serious reconsideration.
--------------------
The Wolfram Research process for testing and fixing bugs is badly broken at
Wolfram Research. For more evidence of this consider the following. The
Mathematica Book (4th edition) section 3.1.4 gives the following on page
722.
In[11]:=N[Pi,20]
Out[11]= 3.1415926535897932385
In[12]:=InputForm[%]
Out[12]//InputForm = 3.141592653589793238462643383279503`20
In[13]:= InputForm[%,NumberMarks->False]
Out[13]//InputForm = 3.1415926535897932385
I am using Mathematica 4.1 under Windows 98, and I get
Out[13]//InputForm =
InputForm[3.141592653589793238462643383279503`20, NumberMarks -> False]
from the last line above.
Someone at Wolfram said this probably works on the platform that was used to
make The Mathematica Book. I reported this problem several months before
version 4.0 was released, and it still wasn't fixed even in version 4.1. I
don't know if it works in version 4.2 or 5.0, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Shouldn't they be embarrassed that some versions of Mathematica can't do
something that is demonstrated in The Mathematica Book? I can't believe
fixing this would require a great deal of effort, and I find it appalling
that they can't be bothered to fix it.
Regards,
Ted Ersek
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