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it's an algol language with array manipulation. APL languages start with array manipulation as a primitive in the design of the language, so they are much bett

by tokipin 18y ago

it's an algol language with array manipulation. APL languages start with array manipulation as a primitive in the design of the language, so they are much better at these sorts of things Matlab is for engineers, Mathematica is for scientists. Matlab is designed for speedy matrixy stuff. Mathematica uses a lisp-like structure 'replacement' pattern matching evaluation scheme, and intrinsically supports symbolic mathematics and is the the only language i would really call multiparadigmatic

gruseom 18y ago
Thanks. My project is calculation-intensive and performance is important. I would love to use kdb. Arthur Whitney's work is stunning. Unfortunately, their licenses are draconian. Can you offer any insight about these various options from the standpoint of building a commercial product on top of them?
- tokipin 18y ago
  truthfully, i have no idea. it's certainly unfortunate that these languages/environments are not widely usable. i don't know of a more powerful scratchpad than Mathematica have you looked at R? it's an open source matlab. though i don't know what kind of database options it might have
  - brent 18y ago
    R isn't "an open source matlab". R is an open source implementation of S-plus. If anything is the open source Matlab it is octave. However, I agree they can be used interchangeably for solving many problems.
- brent 18y ago
  Perhaps I can help, but first. What calculations are you doing (e.g. are they all linear algebra?) What language is it currently written in?
  - gruseom 18y ago
    Think of it as similar to a spreadsheet. The calculations are mostly linear algebra and are represented visually in 2d arrays. What language is it currently written in Common Lisp (at least, the calculation part). It's a great language for developing the product, but we don't want to greenspun our own vector-based calculation engine if we don't have to.

by tokipin 18y ago

gruseom 18y ago

Thanks. My project is calculation-intensive and performance is important. I would love to use kdb. Arthur Whitney's work is stunning. Unfortunately, their licenses are draconian. Can you offer any insight about these various options from the standpoint of building a commercial product on top of them?

tokipin 18y ago
truthfully, i have no idea. it's certainly unfortunate that these languages/environments are not widely usable. i don't know of a more powerful scratchpad than Mathematica have you looked at R? it's an open source matlab. though i don't know what kind of database options it might have
- brent 18y ago
  R isn't "an open source matlab". R is an open source implementation of S-plus. If anything is the open source Matlab it is octave. However, I agree they can be used interchangeably for solving many problems.
brent 18y ago
Perhaps I can help, but first. What calculations are you doing (e.g. are they all linear algebra?) What language is it currently written in?
- gruseom 18y ago
  Think of it as similar to a spreadsheet. The calculations are mostly linear algebra and are represented visually in 2d arrays. What language is it currently written in Common Lisp (at least, the calculation part). It's a great language for developing the product, but we don't want to greenspun our own vector-based calculation engine if we don't have to.