Re: Book or Manual for 6?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg78616] Re: Book or Manual for 6?
- From: magma <maderri2 at gmail.com>
- Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 04:10:13 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <f5qitl$5fs$1@smc.vnet.net><200706270932.FAA01420@smc.vnet.net>
On 28 Giu, 10:33, Murray Eisenberg <mur... at math.umass.edu> wrote: > Although I agree fundamentally with everything that David says about how > to learn Mathematica (and other things as well), there are still three > issues, the third of which some other poster mentioned: > > (1) Still, there are occasions when I want no electronic impediment > whatsoever and just want to look at a book. Clearly some thing are best > learned with the live system, but there are others for which a clear > exposition, with good examples and in a coherent underlying conceptual > structure, suffices. > > (2) As a university teacher for over 40 years, the longer I teach the > more I realize how very different learning styles can be. So a > multiplicity of learning modes and materials is warranted. > > (2) Perhaps it's not so much a printed book per se that I, and some > others, miss, but rather the quasi-linear (and spirally structured) path > through Mathematica provided by "The Mathematica Book". > > Just because the system itself may be a web does not preclude an author > from creating a more-or-less linear path through (part of) it. I completely agree with Murray Eisenberg. A linear path thru the Documentation center is much needed. Several "tutorials" are hidden in the documentation, but it might be hard for a new Mathematica user to find them and read them in a sensible order. There is no doubt though, that in a few months we wiill see a plethora of Mathematica 6 books for everyone coming to the market, but still the "official" Mathematica 6 book (maybe just in pdf format) will be missed.