Re: Wolfram User Interface Research? [off-topic!]
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg88136] Re: Wolfram User Interface Research? [off-topic!]
- From: Steve Gray <stevebg at roadrunner.com>
- Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 03:42:23 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <fuhfdc$ihb$1@smc.vnet.net> <fuhrka$s88$1@smc.vnet.net> <200804211836.OAA09742@smc.vnet.net> <fukeo8$s2j$1@smc.vnet.net> <200804230807.EAA28845@smc.vnet.net> <fupm6e$s5o$1@smc.vnet.net>
>You'd be surprised (or perhaps not) at how many mathematicians, >scientists, and engineers I know say about Mathematica something that >many have said about APL: that it's too hard to learn and too strange >and unfamiliar, i.e., either unlike traditional mathematical notation or >unlike FORTRAN and a certain CAS that's a glorified, enhanced FORTRAN. > About my experience with Mathematica: I've been using it for several years and always getting what I want done with less frustration and much more productivity than if I were using C (which I hate). There are still large parts of Mathematica that I don't know and don't use, but one can ease into programming it by starting off with plain old procedural methods and put in more functional methods in time. If I need lots of speed in parts of my code, I've posted the problem here and have gotten very good responses. One off-putting feature of Mathematica is the ability to write (if not always to read!) code that consists of strings of $&~/_@, etc. I know some but not all of them but use them sparingly because I have to read code I wrote a few years ago and those obscure strings makes that harder. Of course learning lists is essential from the beginning, but I found that to be intuitive and quite appealing, even though I had not used LISP or any other list-oriented language previously. Even though I paid for Mathematica myself, I have found it to be well worth the money. (Just to show that I'm not being paid by WRI for this, I think NKS is a total crock, and I worked on CA for years.) Steve Gray
- References:
- Re: Wolfram User Interface Research?
- From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
- Re: Wolfram User Interface Research?
- From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
- Re: Wolfram User Interface Research?