Problems with Mathematca
- To: mathgroup at christensen.Cybernetics.NET
- Subject: [mg229] Problems with Mathematca
- From: awm at pcmail.nerc-bas.ac.uk
- Date: Thu, 24 Nov 1994 10:00:51 +0000
I feel strongly that Wolfram Research should maintain a list of known bugs accessible via Mathsource. Other software houses do this. I just checked the error bulletin board for Genstat (statistical package) on www.NAG.co.uk. As a user I have the confidence that if I run into a weird problem I can check to see if anyone else has experienced the same difficulty. I can see some force in the "give me a new screwdriver" argument we saw aired on this group recently - but we are talking Mathematica here! This is a large, complex and sophisticated piece of software which is extending the bounds of computer mathematics. Nobody seriously believes it is (or could be) perfect - but it is VERY good. How about a bit more openness from WRI - this would encourage loyalty among the users. We are generally a fairly intelligent and computer-wise group of people and deserve to be treated with respect! In these days of rapid communication by internet there is really no practical reason why this information should not be available to almost every user. If necessary patches could be distributed in this way too. Alistair Murray