Re: Compatibility woes
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg76021] Re: [mg75986] Compatibility woes
- From: Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu>
- Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 04:44:23 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: Mathematics & Statistics, Univ. of Mass./Amherst
- References: <200705140749.DAA23198@smc.vnet.net>
- Reply-to: murray at math.umass.edu
It's hardly "sudden": it's been nearly 2 entire years since 5.2 was realeased. I think I prefer Wolfram's approach usually to make BIG changes when they make changes, less frequently, rather than the oodles of minor changes in much more frequent releases that many software packages make. And there comes a time when progress precludes total compatibility. To one of your specifics: Did you search for ToPackedArray in the search bar on the Documentation Center? It would immediately take you to the "home page" for this function. Evidently this is no longer in any add-on package, let alone the old tenuous-status Developer context. Mark Adler wrote: > I have been using Mathematica since 1.0. For every new version or > update, my previous notebooks have all worked without modification. > > Not so with Version 6. > > Of course, the first clue is that Mathematica offers to fix my old > notebooks when I load them the first time. Get rid of semicolons > after Plot[] and Show[], change Random[] to the new versions, that > sort of thing. That's all somewhat annoying, but I suppose tolerable. > > Then it complains about old packages that, it says, will mess up the > new graphics or other functions. So it complains about loading, for > example, Graphics`Colors`. If I don't load it, I no longer have > DeepSkyBlue, or PaleGreen used as plot line colors. If I do load it, > I am allegedly at risk that something else will be screwed up. > > It can't find Developer`, so how do I get ToPackedArray[]? > > All in all, I am disturbed that after loading only a few notebooks, > I've run into so many incompatibilities. I fear that I've only > scratched the surface, and many more are laying in wait. > > What is the justification for this sudden and flagrant disregard for > backward compatibility? > > Yes, I'm having fun playing with Manipulate[], but I'm wondering if I > made a mistake to download the new version. > > Mark Adler > > -- 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:
- Compatibility woes
- From: Mark Adler <madler@alumni.caltech.edu>
- Compatibility woes