Re: my wish list for Mathematica next major version
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg59946] Re: [mg59901] my wish list for Mathematica next major version
- From: Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu>
- Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 04:53:35 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: Mathematics & Statistics, Univ. of Mass./Amherst
- References: <200508251033.GAA10067@smc.vnet.net>
- Reply-to: murray at math.umass.edu
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Re the audience for your suggestions: If you want "someone from Wolfram" to listen, send your suggestions to "suggestions at wolfram.com"! Re the suggestions yourself: 1. Have you tried, for a start, David Bailey's M-Degug GUI-based debugger? (dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk) 2. Have you tried GUIKit, which now ships with Mathematica? Or David Bailey's Super Widget Package, which facilitates using GUIKit? 3. The issue about standalone executables may be more one of licensing than technical feasibility. 4. What you suggest in the way of a package manager is just the beginning of what, it seems to me, needs to be done regarding packages. Right now, both 3rd party packages and packages other than Standard ones shipped with Mathematica are designed to be installed in a variety of locations, including notably AddOns > Applications and AddOns >ExtraPackages. Quite a few 3rd party package, especially older ones, have no context whatsoever and hence can go anywhere. There are several resulting problems: (a) It becomes a nightmare to remember what package is where, and/or in what context it loads. Thus a graphics package might be in a context Graphics`, it might instead be in ExtendGraphics`; a utility might be in Utilities`, but it might equally well be found in Miscellaneous` or Ersek` (or no context whatsoever). (b) For those packages whose writers have taken the trouble to prepare HelpBrowser-based documentation, on the AddOns & Links tab of the HelpBrowser these packages do NOT appear in a single alphabetically arranged list in the left-most panel. There's some scrambled arrangement of alphabetically arranged sublists, these sublists corresponding, I think to the physical location of the package -- r, it Mathematica's own $InstallationDirectory AddOns subdirectory, the $BaseDirectory AddOns/Applications subdirectory, the $BaseDirectory AddOns/ExtraPackages subdirectory, etc. A related issue is that so many package authors rush out the door packages they designed for their own use, without taking the time and trouble to prepare HelpBrowser-based documentation that would make them so much more convenient for others to use. (With the AuthorTools along with "Dr Bob's" Adding Help documentation, it's relatively easy to handle the technical details of preparing that documentation in proper format.) 5. Easy manipulation of graphics in Mathematica is desperately needed, I quite agree. Right now there are a bunch of 3rd party add-ons that provide some of the functionality, especially 3D movement. But mouse- and menu- based access to plot properties is essential. In this, Mathematica has fallen behind some other products. Nasser Abbasi wrote: > > Hello; > > I thought I'll share some of the things I wish Mathematica could have, > may be someone from Wolfram company will listen. > > 1. A real, good, easy to use, GUI based debugger. With break points, > line numbers, full source code tracing, stack frame display (call > history), step/in/out, etc.. This is for me the most important item to > have. Debugging Mathematica code can be a pain due to lack of a good > debugger. > > 2. Ability to build graphics user interfaces, to allow one to make it > easier to interface to their Mathematica applications. This should > have a wizard type graphic interface builder to make it easy and fast > to build UI's. With callbacks. > > 3. To be able to compile Mathematica applications to a standalone > executables, that can run on any PC without having to install > Mathematica on that PC to run the app. (nice to have, but not > critical). > > 4. A package manager. GUI based. Easy to use. To allow one to easily > add and remove packages, manage packages, etc... > > 5. Improve the graphics to allow one to much easily manipulate the > plots with the mouse, rotate, zoom, modify the plot attributes etc... > Currently plots are static, even though Mathematica plots are the best > I've seen. RealTime3D just does not do it. > > 6. Better information to the public about version numbers, release > dates and products time-lines for all the Mathematica products. I have > few Mathematica applications, which I have to struggle to find what > version numbers they are, when will there be an update made available, > many have not had any update for 2-3 years, not even a minor update. I > have no idea how something like this is possible. Last time I asked on > this, which was a year ago, I was told the specific app in question > was in active development internally, yet, one year later, no more > news and no updates. > > If some of these apps are no longer active, please tell us and make it > clear. There should be a web page listing all the products, with > version numbers, release dats, anticipated next version release date, > etc.. Please communicate more and better with your customers. > > If I think of anything more, I'll post them. > > Thank you for listening. Any hope of getting any of the above soon? :) > > Nasser > > > -- Murray Eisenberg murray at math.umass.edu Mathematics & Statistics Dept. Lederle Graduate Research Tower phone 413 549-1020 (H) University of Massachusetts 413 545-2859 (W) 710 North Pleasant Street fax 413 545-1801 Amherst, MA 01003-9305
- References:
- my wish list for Mathematica next major version
- From: "Nasser Abbasi" <nma@12000.org>
- my wish list for Mathematica next major version