Re: Presentations Package Announcement
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg83920] Re: Presentations Package Announcement
- From: sdw <nospam.warwick at jps.net>
- Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2007 04:30:11 -0500 (EST)
- References: <fj0ms8$ilm$1@smc.vnet.net>
After 10+ years of Mathematica being in existence, why Wolfram can't seem to include these capabilities directly in the program I do not understand. David Park wrote: > I have now released the Presentations package for Mathematica Version 6. > Presentations is a follow-on package for DrawGraphics. It can be obtained at > the Mathematica page of my web site below and costs $50. Previous purchasers > of DrawGraphics have been sent email notices and may freely upgrade to > Presentations. If you are a purchaser who has changed your email address and > have not received a notice please contact me with your current address. > > > > Presentations is a package designed to facilitate the use of Mathematica in > studying standard textbook material, in writing tutorials for students, in > research, and in using Mathematica in technical communications. Although it > started as basically a graphics package it is now being enlarged to > accommodate the many new features of Version 6 and to contain generally > useful features that might not specifically be graphics. > > > > A 'presentation' is my term for any display of data or information about a > scientific or mathematical concept that goes beyond simple text and > equations. > > > > Some of the features of Presentations are: > > > > 1) Rather than treating graphics as a collection of major plot types that > are difficult to combine, Presentations treats all graphics including curves > and surfaces as graphics primitives that may be easily combined in one > drawing statement. > > > > 2) Since graphical elements are all treated as primitives they can be easily > manipulated and transformed. Routines are provided for that and the new > geometric transformation routines of Version 6 have been cast in a form > convenient for this use. > > > > 3) There is a suite of routines for generating custom ticks and grids, free > standing scales, symbolic tick scales, and polar grids to replace the usual > Cartesian axes. > > > > 4) There are 3D arrows with arrowcones that can be drawn in a number of > styles. There are routines for marking angle arcs and right angle indicators > on 2D geometrical diagrams. > > > > 5) For 2D graphics there are the LocatorDraw and LocatorLine routines that > allow the user to temporarily add locators to a graphic, position them, and > then copy the positions into a drawing statement. > > > > 6) There is provision for Text3D that allows true 3D text that rotates with > the image and hides behind surfaces. > > > > 7) There is a complete set of routines for complex function graphics. These > include primitives such as ComplexPoint, ComplexLine, ComplexText, > ComplexCurve etc., that use complex arguments instead of coordinate pairs. > In addition there are complex forms of maps, surface plots, contour plots, > density plots and domain coloring plots that use a single complex iterator. > There is a BranchArg routine that allows the user to set the branch line in > the complex plane at any angle. There is a general multifunction with memory > capability that calculates all function values and orders them to be > continuous with a previous, close-by, evaluation. There is a Riemann sphere > routine and a StereographicMap routine. There are information panel > primitives for providing numerical information along with dynamic graphics. > > > > 8) There is an IndefiniteSequences subpackage that allows the formatting of > expressions that contain ellipses to indicate skipped terms or factors in > sums, products, tables, free standing sequences and infix expressions. There > is the ability to do some operations on the expressions and to convert them > to normal Mathematica expressions. > > > > 9) The Presentations package is a natural extension of standard Mathematica; > it uses the regular Mathematica interface and in no way cuts the user off > from any regular Mathematica functions, including the regular graphics > functions. > > > > 10) Presentations is extensively documented with individual Help pages for > each function. In addition there are many extended examples showing > practical cases of graphics and extended presentations. There are three > essays on 'Writing Notebooks', 'Writing Presentations' and 'Writing > Packages' in which I try to give tips on avoiding traps and getting the most > productive use from Mathematica. One example, EllipseArea, illustrates a > style of writing notebooks that does everything actively and generates > embedded knowledge. There is a sample toy package that can be used as a > model for users who have never before written packages. There is an included > optional style sheet that, to my taste, corrects many of the deficiencies of > the WRI style sheets. Currently, the entire package contains 193 files and > occupies some 3.5 MB (without the graphics being evaluated) - a true bargain > for $50. > > > > > > David Park > > djmpark at comcast.net > > <http://home.comcast.net/~djmpark> http://home.comcast.net/~djmpark > > > >