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Re: Stephen Wolfram's recent blog

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg129861] Re: Stephen Wolfram's recent blog
• From: John Doty <noqsiaerospace at gmail.com>
• Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2013 01:00:06 -0500 (EST)
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On Monday, February 18, 2013 4:00:29 AM UTC-7, Vince Virgilio wrote:

> The Mathematica "language" is roughly the Abstract Syntax Tree mechanics that most 
> compilers use internally. It can indeed be separated from the leaves or terminals of the 
> syntax tree, where most of WRI's intellectual property lives---the algorithms.

Ah, but there's another layer that's essential: pattern matching and replacement. Without that, the syntax is meaningless. Mathematica isn't like a language that gets compiled to machine language or pseudocode.