Re: Re: Book recommendation for
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg9541] Re: [mg9498] Re: Book recommendation for
- From: "Sherman.Reed" <sherman.reed at worldnet.att.net>
- Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 01:40:05 -0500
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Sergio, I have been absent from the discussion for a while (maybe a month) but must weigh in on the subject of documentation. 1. Several non-WRI books have been of value to me and my students over the last 8 years. Blachman's texts, TWJ text on graphics, Shaw & Tigg's text, Bahder's text, and Maeder's text. I have most, if not all, of the English texts on the subject. 2. But at the very top of the list is the WRI bible and second is the Standard Add-On Packages (a best buy from WRI). The WRI bible is (in my judgment) a text of primitives, not applications. The Standard Add-On Packages text is an example of the applications that are possible. 3. Mathematica is not for the faint hearted, it a serious and complicated computer based algebra tool for engineers and scientists who want to push the frontier, and are willing to pay the price for success. Sherman C. Reed sherman.reed at worldnet.att.net ---------- > From: Sergio Rojas <sergio at scisun.sci.ccny.cuny.edu> To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net > To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net > Subject: [mg9541] [mg9498] Re: Book recommendation for > Date: Saturday, November 08, 1997 10:04 PM > > Ersek_Ted%PAX1A at mr.nawcad.navy.mil wrote: > > : |Even though one may find > : |a lot of references about Mathematica, few of them are really useful, > : |and the end result is that the program is still poorly documented, | > : Yes, it bugs me that there is virtually no documentation for the menu > : command in Version 3.0. > : But the Mathematica Book (3rd edition) is 1400 pages, and documents the > : Kernal features very well. > > > I still do not get what is it that makes the thick Mathematica 3.0 > book a well documented reference. In my understanding, a well > organized documentation for something will allow the user to find what > is needed without need of going to a THOROUGHLY review of the > documentation. Moreover, it usually happen that while browsing a well > written documentation set, looking for a particular subject, one finds > information about others things that are not of need for that moment, > but will be so later on. This, in my view, is not the case of the > thick Mathematica book, and it can be illustrated in the process of > creating an acceptable 2-D plot ready to be included in a document. > > Let's say there is a file containing 3 columns of data and the idea > is to plot , to make it simple, columns 2 and 3 versus column one > separately. A QUICK look at the book only shows plot of functions, so > one goes to the index. In the way one take notes of pages 133, 492, and > 1042 for AxesLabel and some other things that may be needed to complete > the goal. However, one finds NOTHING close to "plot of data". But, a > somewhat "special" intuition let the initiated suspect that ListPlot > is what is needed, so the user goes to page 157, and there it is !!! > section 1.9.9 "Plotting List of Data". The initiated find that the > example on page at the beginning of page 159 is more or less fine > (except for the labels), and goes to section 1.11.3 in order to read > the data file. After reading section 1.11.3, no way to put the data > in the form given on page 159, so the initiated go to section 2.11.7, > but to find out that still it is NOT SHOW how to read a file with 3 > columns and set up the data in a way allowing the plotting of columns 2 > and 3 versus column one. The end result is that the great thick book is > put to a side, and some other books need to be looked at to find what > is needed. > > Other things to look at are: How many plots, in the great book, > shows the plotting of error bars? How many of them shows how to label > the plots using long or sort labels? How many ... > > Sergio