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Wolfram Research Releases Mathematica 7
mblase writes "Wolfram Research has released the seventh version of Mathematica, and it does a lot more than symbolic algebra. New features range from things as simple as cut-and-paste integration with Microsoft Word's Equation Editor to instant 3D models of mathematical objects to the most expensive clone of Photoshop ever. Full suites of genome, chemical, weather, astronomical, financial, and geodesic data (or support for same) is designed to make Mathematica as invaluable for scientific research as it is for mathematics."
>Can't wait to see what new stuff they put into this.
Other Recently Added Features:
Visualization & Graphics
High-Impact Adaptive Visualization
Automated Computational Aesthetics
Fully Automated Graph Layout
Real-Time 3D Graphics
Automated Table Layout
Dynamic Interactivity
Mathematics & Algorithms
Integrated Geometric Computing
Combinatorial Optimization
Constrained Nonlinear Optimization
Equational Theorem Proving
High-Level String Computation
New Generation Numerical Integration
Computable Data
Financial Data
Astronomical Data
Country Data
Particle Data
Graph Data
Mathematical Data
Data Manipulation
Exploratory Data Analysis
Symbolic Sound Support
Symbolic Report Generation
3D Printing & Scanning Support
Symbolic Statistical Computing
Core Language
Unification of Graphics, Text & Controls
Language for Data Integration
Dynamic Graphical Input
Instant Multimedia Programming
Real-Time Code Annotation
Instant High-Level Debugging
Interface & User Experience
Symbolic Interface Construction
Integrated Graphics Editing & Drawing
Built-in Gamepad & HID Support
Streamlined Presentation Framework
New Documentation Framework Dynamic Interactivity
>This just seems like its got so bloated that it will likely be priced beyond the budget of most students.
It isnt aimed at students.
>what's wrong with small tools at low cost which work together?
Wolfram does not want you to work with any competitor's product. He wants you to raise a mortgage in order to be able to pay for his "complete solution".
>which isn't really what we want.
Except it really is what most of us want. Why shouldn't it?
and fuck Matlab too, while we are at it. I got a free hit of Matlab in university and then found out how much they charge for licenses only after I was an addict (had a pile of useful code that I didn't want to throw away). I am not going to keep paying for the privilege of running my own code and am busily learning Python.
Mathematica code belongs to Wolfram Research, Matlab code belongs to the Mathworks, but Python code can be MINE! (and yours too, if I want to give it to you.)
I don't buy into the virtual machines they are pushing now either; they might be free as in beer, but it is only a short-term solution and is nothing more than "free hits" to generate more addicts that need licenses.
The closest thing to a free alternative I've been able to find is Sage: http://www.sagemath.org/ Compared to MatLab, Maple, and Mathematica (yes I know MatLAB is differently purposed than the other two) the usability of Sage blows. It's pretty powerful sure, but when even Maple is easier to use then you've got a problem. I may give the new Mathematica a try. Integration with Word will make some of my lab writeups go a bit faster. Well, maybe as long as Mathematica doesn't take too long to figure out. Too bad our University doesn't sell it to students for $5 a pop anymore.
Maple 12 life!
Maxima is released under the GPL.
Octave is a free version of Matlab, practically all your Matlab code will work in Octave.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_computer_algebra_systems
Take your pick. Some will obviously be better suited to your needs (or lack of needs) as appropriate.
Layne
You don't have to throw that code away or port it to an entirely different language (though Python rocks, and I wish my day-to-day job let me use more of it) Try GNU Octave - that's what I used to back in college because my department didn't have licensed copies of MATLAB installed/available, so-called student versions were insanely impossible and expensive to get hold of (Indian students can't afford $100), and I didn't want to pick a pirated one like the rest of the class.
Possible the first open-spurce software I practically used (except playing with Linux).
Code was very cross-compatible between Octave and MATLAB, except say constants like "e" and "exp" (and of course the MATLAB-specific toolkits). The toughest part at that time was explaining to the professor (who had no idea what "open-source" was) that I did *not* use MATLAB, but it would run on MATLAB fine if he wanted to check that my assignments work fine.
I had to write some code using the Mathematica API once, and it hurt. It provides a pipe of tokens, but if you ask for the wrong token, it hangs. You can peak at the front of the queue, but it's still the case that every time you want to read in a token you have to write code to expect any of a million different types of token for all the crazy error messages you never knew you might get.
Also, the GUI is awful. That notebook metaphor just does not work. You want to remove a buggy line of code somewhere but it might be attached to another block so it's really hard to get hold of it. The navigation keys (pg up, end and so on) don't work as you'd expect in an editor so you become very mouse reliant, which is awful for anybody used to working in a programming environment.
In my experience, Matlab is far superior although as others have pointed out, I'd still rather be working in Python. Numpy anybody?
No advertising here, just a happy math nerd who was recently investigating alternatives like Maxima and SciLab himself recently, and was impressed that the new version of Mathematica leapfrogged them all by doing much more instead of just doing what it does faster.
(This despite the fact that Mathematica is, and nearly always has been, far more number-crunching power than I've ever needed in my academic or professional career.)
Sage http://sagemath.org/ is coming pretty good. Version 3.2 will come out in just a few days.
And you can use Mathematica, Matlab, Maple, Magma, Maxima, etc from inside Sage if you have those programs available.
does it matter that it's open source or not?
It does if you don't have $2400 to spend on a copy of Mathematica.
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
For what it does, Maxima is pretty good. It's fairly easy to use compared to the other big free alternative. That being said, it is fairly limited compared to Mathematica, Maple or Sage. If you need it to be free and need more features, check out sage (www.sagemath.org) but don't expect to produce anything useful in the first minute. If you're looking for a basic accessible CAS, then Sage wouldn't be the answer. In that case, Maxima might do it for you. Sage is more useful for people who need a more robust system, but I have often found I can write my own tools faster than I can do it in some of the free alternatives.