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Re: Compatibility issue in Mathematica 7

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg97706] Re: [mg97684] Compatibility issue in Mathematica 7
• From: John Fultz <jfultz at wolfram.com>
• Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:11:25 -0500 (EST)
• Reply-to: jfultz at wolfram.com

On Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:57:50 -0500 (EST), daniele wrote:
> Hello everybody,
>
> I've been using Mathematica 6 for a while and now I'm about to
> purchase version 7: I was wondering whether it's possible, in the
> latest version, to save a notebook which can be subsequently opened
> (and edited) with version 6. To the best of my knowledge, this was not
> possible in version 6 (saving for, say, version 5) and it's something
> that has always buggered me quite a lot, because I often have the
> necessity to exchange notebooks with people who haven't the same
> version as me.
>
> Thank you very much,
> Daniele

Version 7 notebooks are compatible with version 6, except where new features are 
used.  The principal new features I can think of which you might run across are 
graphics which use splines, tubes, or 3D arrows.  Graphics containing any of
these new features will render partially or not at all with a pink box noting 
the problem.  Also, any Manipulate output which relies on new Manipulate 
features (sorry, don't have the list, but I could probably obtain it if it's
important) might display a compatibility message instead of the Manipulate 
itself.

When opening a version 7 notebook in version 6, you'll get a warning dialog box 
indicating the notebook was created with a newer version.  But, aside from that, 
if you stick to the version 6 feature set in your code, you'll probably be okay. 
And if you re-save the notebook in v6, even that warning will go away.

As a general remark about compatibility, I know that a lot of things changed in 
version 6, which was a considerable challenge for some.  But version 6 is very 
atypical of our releases in that regard.  Version 7, like the vast majority of 
our upgrades, is highly compatible with its predecessor, modulo new features.

Sincerely,
 
John Fultz
jfultz at wolfram.com
User Interface Group
Wolfram Research, Inc.