Re: Re: Notebook History -- what is it good for?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg77790] Re: [mg77720] Re: Notebook History -- what is it good for?
- From: "Chris Chiasson" <chris at chiasson.name>
- Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 05:57:43 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <f4olfq$763$1@smc.vnet.net> <200706150843.EAA16213@smc.vnet.net>
Why not use a revision control system like Subversion? Space constraints? Also, there is at least one system--git--that computes the SHA1 hash of its entire repository history for each revision, which would help in validating repository authenticity. On 6/15/07, Steve Luttrell <steve at _removemefirst_luttrell.org.uk> wrote: > I'm using it experimentally to replicate (part of) the effect of using a > time-stamped "laboratory notebook". > > The time-honoured way to time stamp material (e.g. for patent priority > purposes) is to keep a countersigned paper record, but this doesn't work if > you do everything in electronic form (e.g. Mathematica notebooks) unless you > use some additional procedures to generate verifiable time stamps. > > The Notebook History feature looks to me like a first attempt to generate > time stamps for Mathematica notebooks. It doesn't go all the way because you > can't determine the exact state of a notebook at a given point in the past, > but at least it shows where you have been going back to "fiddle" with > earlier results, and thus gives a last-updated time for each cell. As for > whether this sort of time stamp would be recognised in law, that presumably > would depend on whether the time stamps were difficult to fake. I think that > time-stamped copies of your notebooks are the only convincing approach here. > > My "laboratory notebook" has been a web of Mathematica notebooks since > version 3.0, and up until now I have carefully added date labels to every > group of cells that I create and/or edit, AND I periodically make a > time-stamped copy of active notebooks. I don't yet know the precise way in > which I will end up using the new Notebook History feature; at the moment I > regard it as an experimental feature. > > Steve Luttrell > West Malvern, UK > > "Szabolcs" <szhorvat at gmail.com> wrote in message > news:f4olfq$763$1 at smc.vnet.net... > > > > In Mathematica 6 there is an entry in the Cell menu: Notebook History. > > Does it do anything apart from tracking the modification times of cells? > > Is anyone here using this feature? If yes, how do you use it/why do > > you find it useful? > > > > I am just curious about this new feature. > > > > Szabolcs > > > > > > -- http://chris.chiasson.name/
- References:
- Re: Notebook History -- what is it good for?
- From: "Steve Luttrell" <steve@_removemefirst_luttrell.org.uk>
- Re: Notebook History -- what is it good for?