Mathematica's text + graphics GUI
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg113439] Mathematica's text + graphics GUI
- From: kj <no.email at please.post>
- Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:29:14 -0400 (EDT)
One of the things I find most amazing about the Mathematica GUI is that it combines, within the same window, both command-line interaction with top-quality graphics. Of the software I'm familiar with, Mathematica is the only one that does this. I wonder why so few apps supports this type of GUI. One possibility is that in fact most users prefer to have separate windows for the text-based interaction and the graphics. (Maybe I'm just biased, but I find this possibility really implausible.) One other possibility is that combining both text interaction and graphics in the same window is technically *really hard*. This seems to me a more likely explanation, even though I really wouldn't know exactly why this particular combination in a GUI would be such a technical feat. I can guess and speculate like anyone else, of course, but I really don't know. Does any of you *know* why so few apps in this general area offer GUIs that combine text interaction with graphics in the same window? Am I right in guessing that it is an inordinately difficult thing to do? If so, could someone spell out for me what are the major hurdles? ~kj