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Re: The audience for Mathematica (Was: Re: Show doesn't work inside

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg102054] Re: The audience for Mathematica (Was: Re: Show doesn't work inside
• From: Helen Read <hpr at together.net>
• Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:03:35 -0400 (EDT)
• References: <32390795.1248259308283.JavaMail.root@n11> <h4951e$q2e$1@smc.vnet.net> <200907241016.GAA17537@smc.vnet.net> <h4h235$if5$1@smc.vnet.net> <h4jti9$3kt$1@smc.vnet.net>

AES wrote:
> 
>  Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Now the issue becomes one of language design:  Should the Mathematica 
>> language -- or any computer language, for that matter -- be designed 
>> primarily with the inexperienced user in mind?
> 
> Fair question.  Perhaps one answer is:  It should be designed primarily 
> with the _expected audience_ in mind -- and beyond that, should be as 
> consistent and non-perplexing as possible, for that and for any audience.
> 
> As a more specific definition of an expected audience, it seems to me 
> (and, I think, Helen Read) that Mathematica -- or at least a more 
> consistent and less perplexing form of Mathematica:

I'm quite happy with Mathematica in its current form. It is extremely 
consistent, and not at all perplexing to anyone who is willing to put in 
a bit of effort. Look what my group of bright high school students did 
with a mere 75 minutes of exposure to Mathematica.

> 1) Could be very accessible to bright high school students, maybe with 
> some hand holding; 

It *is* accessible to bright high school students. See above.

> 2)  Could be (and to some extent is) useful to average college students 
> and to working BS level engineers as a helpful working tool in any 
> technical or mathematically oriented area; and 

It *is* useful to average college students. Every one of my calculus 
students learns to use Mathematica successfully, even the below average 
students. The Classroom Assistant palette has made the learning curve 
even easier for them.

My students use Mathematica on some of their quizzes, which I give them 
daily during the accelerated summer session. The students are permitted 
to raise their hands and ask me for help if they run into issues with 
Mathematica during the quiz. By the end of the second week of my summer 
class, they were rarely asking for help with Mathematica on the quizzes. 
We are now three weeks in, and today *nobody* asked for help during the 
quiz. All of them were able to do what they needed to do without any 
help from me. Nobody was perplexed.

[snip]


> Of course, there's the alternative audience of professional Mathematica 
> experts, whose full time or near full time occupation is becoming expert 
> at using Mathematica, with all its complexities and perplexing features.  

[snip]

>
> So, which audience is WRI aiming at, because it really can't have both 
> (or maybe it can, to some extent -- but it really can't serve both well).

I disagree. Mathematica can and does serve all these different audiences 
very well.

-- 
Helen Read
University of Vermont

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: Re: The audience for Mathematica (Was: Re: Show doesn't work inside
    • From: Andrzej Kozlowski <akoz@mimuw.edu.pl>

• References:
  • Re: Show doesn't work inside Do loop ?
    • From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>