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Re: The Mathematica Book, Electronic Media and MathWorld

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  • Subject: [mg78572] Re: [mg78524] The Mathematica Book, Electronic Media and MathWorld
  • From: DrMajorBob <drmajorbob at bigfoot.com>
  • Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2007 05:42:35 -0400 (EDT)
  • References: <f5qitl$5fs$1@smc.vnet.net> <200706270932.FAA01420@smc.vnet.net> <f5vrpf$kar$1@smc.vnet.net> <19724570.1183459933221.JavaMail.root@m35>
  • Reply-to: drmajorbob at bigfoot.com

Don't forget the really HUGE advantage of Mathematica's built-in Help over  
a book:

You can execute code in it!

I never believe what documentation says, so that's an even bigger factor  
for me than it otherwise would be.

Bobby

On Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:41:05 -0500, David Park <djmpark at comcast.net> wrote:

> Murray has always been a great correspondent who can correct my errors  
> and
> advance any endeavor.
>
> We almost all love books. They still have some advantage over electronic
> media because of their portability. And right now there is probably more
> technical material in books than in electronic media. (This however will
> quickly change.) They make great collectors items. As technical documents
> that is about the end of their advantages. Mathematica notebooks and pdf
> documents are far superior - but unfortunately not MathWorld.
>
> Some of the decisive disadvantages of books and other printed media are:
>
> 1) They are often full of errors and misprints and can't be easily  
> updated.
> Mathematica notebooks, if written in an active style, are to a large  
> extent
> self-proofing.
>
> 2) Technical books are often too brief. They don't have room for many
> examples, or examples that require larger output. The old Mathematica  
> Book
> was quite long and heavy but still in many places too concise to easily
> understand all the commands. The new features would have doubled the size
> and weight of the book and still probably have been too concise.  
> Electronic
> media can contain much more material, perhaps even with alternative
> approaches that a reader can choose among. Writers of electronic media  
> don't
> have to be as concerned with bulk and space.
>
> 3) Printed technical books are too expensive.
>
> 4) Printed technical books are not always more convenient. For example,  
> many
> of them will not lie flat! They are strictly a two-hand operation. How  
> many
> times have you had to work between some book and a Mathematica notebook  
> and
> found that you were always fighting with the book to keep its position?  
> The
> Mathematica help documentation stays open to where you want and you don't
> have to change your physical position to access it. At meals I always  
> like
> to read something or other. I can either read magazines or books or  
> material
> on our laptop. I find that I more and more gravitate to the laptop  
> because
> it is easier. The vertical screen is better than the horizontal book and  
> I
> can usually enlarge the type to make it easy to read. And I have access  
> to
> more material from the web.
>
> However, we are still learning how to write Mathematica notebooks and
> electronic media. In my opinion it should be a natural extension of the
> classical style that incorporates the active elements of Mathematica. But
> there is a lot to complain about in some of the current attempts.
>
> Take MathWorld. Here is a site that is top notch, A+++, as far as content
> and organization go. But in my opinion it is a poor web site because it  
> does
> not adhere to modern web standards. The text, especially in the  
> equations is
> far too small and non-adjustable. It is much smaller and with less line
> spacing than any technical book I can pick off my shelf. Also, the font  
> used
> for the equations is quite poor. The web page magnification doesn't work
> either because then the inline formulas no longer fit in properly and
> overlay parts of the text. Also, sometimes with magnification the text  
> wraps
> properly and sometimes it does not so one has to do horizontal scrolling.
> This is a case where electronic media does not live up to its promise -  
> but
> purely for typological and technical reasons and not at all due to the
> excellent content.
>
>



-- 
DrMajorBob at bigfoot.com


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