the MATLAB language is pretty poorly designed, in my opinion. take for example the use of abbreviated function names. everything in Mathematica (including grap

the MATLAB language is pretty poorly designed, in my opinion. take for example the use of abbreviated function names. everything in Mathematica (including graphics and UI) is described using the structure of the Mathematica language itself. the whole system is malleable/composable to a degree that few languages approach for example: Nest[Button, "hello", 5] will create a nesting of 5 buttons. that's the same Nest you would use when nesting a function: Nest[# + 1 &, 2, 5] And neither of these are hacks, they both work under the same exact rules, because: Nest[whatever, a, 5] gives whatever[whatever[whatever[whatever[whatever[a]]]]] it's the frontend that chooses to interpret certain symbols (such as 'Button') in particular ways.