4 ms·

> he tried to use Mathematica to share one of his studies in a way that anyone could explore every detail of his data and methods. It didn’t work. He says that

by 21 8y ago

> he tried to use Mathematica to share one of his studies in a way that anyone could explore every detail of his data and methods. It didn’t work. He says that Mathematica’s owner, Wolfram Research, made it too difficult to share his work in a way that didn’t require other people to use the proprietary software, too Sometimes I wonder where Mathematica would be if it were open sourced lets say in 2010. It had such a head start over Python. Interestingly, Mathematica interop with Python is basically non-existent today, even worse than it was in the past. Short term moat building destroying long term viability.

hellogoodbyeeee 8y ago
I loved using Mathematica in college. It was the first programming language I ever really used to make some cool things. I wish it was more accessible. I think one of the requirements of my dream job would be a work place that uses Mathematica. It's really fun reading through "code golf" challenges where other languages take 10-15 lines for something that Mathematica has a built in for.
- jabl 8y ago
  I used Mathematica a lot as an undergrad, but more or less exclusively for doing symbolic math, mostly tricky or tedious integrals. Much later I realized that it's actually a more or less full-fledged programming language as well, but, I never got into that.
- SonOfLilit 8y ago
  Did you just say "code golf" and Mathematica in the same sentence? Then you will love these. I own like 10 copies, which I give to people for their birthdays: http://adereth.github.io/blog/2017/11/02/playing-with-wolfram-playing-cards/ http://adereth.github.io/blog/2017/11/02/playing-with-wolfra...
  - owenversteeg 8y ago
    Oh, those are quite cool. I'll have to get a pack sometime. I also think the Executed Today deck looks pretty cool (totally different card subject)
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
dekhn 8y ago
We could recover Mathematica interop easily. i wrote a tool to convert Python expressions to Mathematica expressions, evaluate them, and return the results as Python expressions, probably back in 97. I believe M still has the Kernel C API so it should be easy to resurrect & make modern. http://library.wolfram.com/infocenter/MathSource/585/ http://library.wolfram.com/infocenter/MathSource/585/
techgipper 8y ago
Not true: Python is callable from a Wolfram Notebook: https://reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/ConfigurePythonForExternalEvaluate.html https://reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/ConfigurePyt... Romer also published notebooks and PDFs without issue previously: https://assets.aeaweb.org/assets/production/articles-attachments/aer/app/10505/P2015_1066_app.pdf https://assets.aeaweb.org/assets/production/articles-attachm... Something about his story is odd. Given his shady past at the World Bank, who knows what's actually true.

by 21 8y ago

hellogoodbyeeee 8y ago

I loved using Mathematica in college. It was the first programming language I ever really used to make some cool things. I wish it was more accessible. I think one of the requirements of my dream job would be a work place that uses Mathematica. It's really fun reading through "code golf" challenges where other languages take 10-15 lines for something that Mathematica has a built in for.

jabl 8y ago
I used Mathematica a lot as an undergrad, but more or less exclusively for doing symbolic math, mostly tricky or tedious integrals. Much later I realized that it's actually a more or less full-fledged programming language as well, but, I never got into that.
SonOfLilit 8y ago
Did you just say "code golf" and Mathematica in the same sentence? Then you will love these. I own like 10 copies, which I give to people for their birthdays: http://adereth.github.io/blog/2017/11/02/playing-with-wolfram-playing-cards/ http://adereth.github.io/blog/2017/11/02/playing-with-wolfra...
- owenversteeg 8y ago
  Oh, those are quite cool. I'll have to get a pack sometime. I also think the Executed Today deck looks pretty cool (totally different card subject)
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

dekhn 8y ago

We could recover Mathematica interop easily. i wrote a tool to convert Python expressions to Mathematica expressions, evaluate them, and return the results as Python expressions, probably back in 97. I believe M still has the Kernel C API so it should be easy to resurrect & make modern. http://library.wolfram.com/infocenter/MathSource/585/ http://library.wolfram.com/infocenter/MathSource/585/

techgipper 8y ago

Not true: Python is callable from a Wolfram Notebook: https://reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/ConfigurePythonForExternalEvaluate.html https://reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/ConfigurePyt... Romer also published notebooks and PDFs without issue previously: https://assets.aeaweb.org/assets/production/articles-attachments/aer/app/10505/P2015_1066_app.pdf https://assets.aeaweb.org/assets/production/articles-attachm... Something about his story is odd. Given his shady past at the World Bank, who knows what's actually true.