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Re: Replace and ReplaceAll -- simple application

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg106033] Re: Replace and ReplaceAll -- simple application
  • From: AES <siegman at stanford.edu>
  • Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:13:15 -0500 (EST)
  • Organization: Stanford University
  • References: <200912270006.TAA12080@smc.vnet.net> <hh72dp$kud$1@smc.vnet.net> <hh9vfo$1rk$1@smc.vnet.net> <200912290618.BAA02632@smc.vnet.net> <hhf5kg$go6$1@smc.vnet.net>

In article <hhf5kg$go6$1 at smc.vnet.net>,
 Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu> wrote:

[Re documentation issues and I->-I]
 
> Only gathering usage statistics, or having a focus group of users trying 
> stuff, might suffice to escalate some issues to the point of requiring
> more prominent warnings.

1)  Fully agree.  My understanding is that many software vendors (and 
hardware equipment vendors, for that matter), at least the larger ones, 
do exactly this, systematically and extensively, on their products, and 
especially the interfaces to their products.  I have no idea whether 
Wolfram does any of this or not.

2)  On this point let's note that, to many users, the _interface_ to 
Mathematica -- what the user has to (learn to) type in, to get useful 
results out -- is the most important (and sometimes frustrating?) part 
of the product.  

What Mathematica does or can do -- it's "capabilities" as contrasted to 
its interface -- is of course also of primary importance; and 
Mathematica seems to rank very highly on this criterion.  It's the user 
interface where many if not most of these problems arise.

3)  And let's note the explicit assertions by Conrad Wolfram (in the 
screencasts/video gallery on the Wolfram web site), and by others, that 
Mathematica is intended to be a program that does *all* tasks, for *all* 
users, in a *single* application (with 'all' and 'single' taken very 
broadly).  This means, necessarily:

a)  A *very* complex interface (with, in particular, a _huge_ 
vocabulary).

b)  And at the same time, a very broad and diverse set of users, with 
very different levels of education and knowledge and experience.

And this may mean that this basic goal and approach of the Wolframs' for 
Mathematica may not be realistic or possible.   The "focus groups" you 
suggest will have to be very diverse in makeup, corresponding to the 
huge diversity of the proposed users; and each different group of users 
will have different interface (and documentation) needs, and want very 
different things.

If the Wolframs' are going to insist on following this path, then user 
documentation -- easily accessible, brilliantly designed documentation, 
readily available in different forms oriented to the needs of different 
users -- is the primary thing they have to focus on.  

Thus far, so far as I can see, Heikki Ruskeepaa may be the only person 
on the planet who recognizes this and does something about it.  
Mathematica's own documentation gets maybe a C- on this score.  And 
simply expecting ordinary users to learn ever more arcane CAS concepts 
and terminology in order to use Mathematica effectively seems as 
unrealistic as it is absurd.


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