4 ms·

Wolfram has a habit of creating blog posts about the test cases for their algorithms.

jordigh 12y ago
He also has a habit of not talking about how things work. All the time. Source code, mathematical proofs, citations, all of these things are relatively unimportant in Wolfram's world. He even thinks you should not try to find out how things work: http://reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/WhyYouDoNotUsuallyNeedToKnowAboutInternals.html http://reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/WhyYouDoNotUs...
- JetSpiegel 12y ago
  Particularly in more advanced applications of the Wolfram System, it may sometimes seem worthwhile to try to analyze internal algorithms in order to predict which way of doing a given computation will be the most efficient. And there are indeed occasionally major improvements that you will be able to make in specific computations as a result of such analyses. But most often the analyses will not be worthwhile. For the internals of the Wolfram System are quite complicated, and even given a basic description of the algorithm used for a particular purpose, it is usually extremely difficult to reach a reliable conclusion about how the detailed implementation of this algorithm will actually behave in particular circumstances. Trust us, we're professionals!
  - jordigh 12y ago
    Yeah, I find this article very insulting and condescending. "Don't worry your pretty little head, our ideas are far too complicated for you to understand!"
- JacobEdelman 12y ago
  Its a They, not He. The post isn't written by Wolfram himself :)
  - geofft 12y ago
    The Principle of Computational Equivalence says that Wolfram and his employees are equivalent, right?
  - jordigh 12y ago
    How do you know? This article has been up for as long as I've known Wolfram to have a website. I strongly suspect he wrote it himself.
  - carlob 12y ago
    You'd be surprised to know what fraction of the documentation he's actually written himself.

He also has a habit of not talking about how things work. All the time. Source code, mathematical proofs, citations, all of these things are relatively unimportant in Wolfram's world. He even thinks you should not try to find out how things work: http://reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/WhyYouDoNotUsuallyNeedToKnowAboutInternals.html http://reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/WhyYouDoNotUs...

JetSpiegel 12y ago
Particularly in more advanced applications of the Wolfram System, it may sometimes seem worthwhile to try to analyze internal algorithms in order to predict which way of doing a given computation will be the most efficient. And there are indeed occasionally major improvements that you will be able to make in specific computations as a result of such analyses. But most often the analyses will not be worthwhile. For the internals of the Wolfram System are quite complicated, and even given a basic description of the algorithm used for a particular purpose, it is usually extremely difficult to reach a reliable conclusion about how the detailed implementation of this algorithm will actually behave in particular circumstances. Trust us, we're professionals!
- jordigh 12y ago
  Yeah, I find this article very insulting and condescending. "Don't worry your pretty little head, our ideas are far too complicated for you to understand!"
JacobEdelman 12y ago
Its a They, not He. The post isn't written by Wolfram himself :)
- geofft 12y ago
  The Principle of Computational Equivalence says that Wolfram and his employees are equivalent, right?
- jordigh 12y ago
  How do you know? This article has been up for as long as I've known Wolfram to have a website. I strongly suspect he wrote it himself.
- carlob 12y ago
  You'd be surprised to know what fraction of the documentation he's actually written himself.