Wolfram Launches Computational Document Format

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Wolfram Launches Computational Document Format

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday July 21, 2011 @04:50AM from the kinder-gentler-document-format dept.

Barence writes "Wolfram Research has launched its own document format, which it claims is 'as everyday as a document, but as interactive as an app.' The Computational Document Format (CDF) allows authors to embed interactive charts, diagrams and graphics into their documents, allowing readers to adjust variables to see how increasing a price affects profits, for example, or display different segments of a brain scan. Wolfram aims to make the format easy enough for non-programmers to use, based on the linguistic commands used in its search engine. '[Currently] anyone who can make an Excel macro should easily be able to make interactivity for CDF,' said Conrad Wolfram. 'Where I'd like to get is that anyone who can make an Excel chart can make interactivity in CDFs.'"

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sounds awesome! by malraid · 2011-07-21 04:54 · Score: 2

but... does it have a blink tag?

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1. Re:sounds awesome! by blair1q · 2011-07-21 06:08 · Score: 2
  
  And a volume control that defaults to 11.
Open format by tsa · 2011-07-21 04:55 · Score: 2

From the website: Wolfram currently provides the CDF specification as a public format, meaning it is publicly available, openly documented, and natively unencrypted.
Let's hope it stays open.

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-- Cheers!
1. Re:Open format by iluvcapra · 2011-07-21 05:14 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Don't touch it without an assignment of copyright to a community body and a patent indemnification.
  
  --
  Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
2. Re:Open format by wjousts · 2011-07-21 05:28 · Score: 2
  
  Funny thing. I've been poking around their website and I can't find this publicly available open documentation anywhere...
I've met some of the people who make Excel charts by _0xd0ad · 2011-07-21 04:55 · Score: 2

I think he greatly overestimates them.
But I've also made some pretty cool Excel charts, so this will probably be a neat tool for people who can actually use it to its full potential.
Relevant XKCD by naroom · 2011-07-21 04:55 · Score: 2

http://xkcd.com/927/
Conrad?! by __aayuzx6098 · 2011-07-21 04:56 · Score: 2

My God, there's a brother? Can you imagine Xmas in that family?
Wait for third-party tools by wjousts · 2011-07-21 05:03 · Score: 2

From TFA:

Users will require Wolfram's Mathematica 8 software to create CDFs, while end users will require the free Wolfram CDF Player to view the documents.
1. Re:Wait for third-party tools by Animats · 2011-07-21 05:15 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  It gets worse. From the EULA:
  
  Certain functionality in the Product may require the Software to access collections of data available through external servers. WRI makes no warranty that access to such data will be uninterrupted or that the data itself will be error free. WRI reserves the right to restrict access to, add, update, modify, or remove collections of data based on availability, Your service subscription, or otherwise at WRI's discretion.
  So once they get enough suckers signed up, they can make it a pay service.
2. Re:Wait for third-party tools by wjousts · 2011-07-21 05:26 · Score: 5, Informative
  Yeah, they seem to be abusing the term "free" and "public" in a manner that I don't think most people would expect. From the licensing page:
  
  Computable Document Format (CDF) is a free public format, and under the Wolfram FreeCDF terms of use, your CDF documents along with their content are freely redistributable to anyone using the Wolfram CDF Player.*
  
  And that asterisk?
  
  *FreeCDF terms automatically apply to CDF files created by Wolfram products, but do not allow:
  
  Charging others for using your CDFs
  
  Preventing others from republishing or redistributing CDFs that you give them
  
  Removing our logo or other displayed branding
  
  Which looks suspiciously like their "free public format" is, in fact, closed and proprietary.
3. Re:Wait for third-party tools by bill_mcgonigle · 2011-07-21 06:19 · Score: 2
  
  Which looks suspiciously like their "free public format" is, in fact, closed and proprietary.
  I think "open and encumbered" is the description you're looking for.
  I actually read about a quarter of "A New Kind of Science" and still can't believe that Wolfram doesn't get non-zero-sum games after all that.
  
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4. Re:Wait for third-party tools by wjousts · 2011-07-21 08:23 · Score: 2
  
  But they are still programs created by you. It would be like Microsoft saying anything created in Visual Studio belongs to them.
CDF? Really? by oneiros27 · 2011-07-21 05:08 · Score: 4, Insightful

They have to take the same acronym as a 20+ year old file format for storing numbers?
It's almost like they didn't bother putting the term 'CDF file' into a search engine to see if anyone else was using that acronym already for a file extension. (of course, w3 even used it twice)

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Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Sounds good but... by TheRecklessWanderer · 2011-07-21 05:12 · Score: 5, Insightful

It sounds good but look at all the problems adobe has with PDF. People embedding viruses and trojans. If this format were to be used, would it really be all that different?

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Mean what you say...say what you mean.
Re:So, how is this not going to be macro virus hel by kevinmenzel · 2011-07-21 05:18 · Score: 2

And we all know that there's never been a fault with anyone's sandbox implementation before ;)
Re:Interesting idea by icebraining · 2011-07-21 05:21 · Score: 2

A couple of lines of framework enhanced Javascript can do the same. Why wouldn't they write an editor that exports to HTML/JS? Oh right, that would make it actually open, and not locked in to their viewer. Nevermind.

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OpenDoc? by matthewv789 · 2011-07-21 05:24 · Score: 2

It sounds like something between Excel and OpenDoc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDoc, http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?OpenDoc).
Requires Mathematica by reverseengineer · 2011-07-21 05:24 · Score: 2

I see that Mathematica will be required to create documents, but the target audience for this document format (repeatedly described by Wolfram and simple and easy) seem that they would have little use for a powerful and quite expensive piece of technical software. The format looks convenient if you already happen to be a Mathematica user, but it's a little strange to aim at a wider audience who are unlikely to have use for most of Mathematica's functionality.

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1. Re:Requires Mathematica by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · 2011-07-21 05:42 · Score: 2
  
  But if it's an open format, then anyone can create their own system for creating the documents, can't they?
  
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  Technoli
arggh... by Tei · 2011-07-21 05:35 · Score: 3, Informative

I don't like how Wolfram use existing formats. How hyperlinking graphics from Wolfram break, and so on. Don't seems fair players on the internet.
Creating a new file format? cool. Where is the extensive documentation site online? ... what is this, a formulary to enter my data? WTF?, This smell like a propietery format to solve his problem: Wolfram don't want to play by the internet rules, don't want people from hotlinking his graphics, and stuff, so don't want to use GIF and PNG. Want internet to change to adapt to thenselves.
I think I say here DO NOT WANT.

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Re:CDF? Really? by crush · 2011-07-21 06:05 · Score: 2

You're assuming malice. But the most likely thing is that they used Wolfram Alpha to search for "CDF" instead of using Google or Ixquick. ;)
Similar cluelessness abounds in their comparison chart which claims e.g. that HTML5 is incapable of a "dynamic document hierarchy" while "Readers can dynamically open and close chapters and sections in CDF documents. CDF also supports hierarchical, tab, slide, flip, opener, and other document organizations."
What's new here? by saforrest · 2011-07-21 06:05 · Score: 3, Interesting

All of Matematica, Maple, and MathCAD have had their own worksheet/document formats since the mid-90s at least. They have gone through many incarnations but I believe all of them now support embedding code, graphics, marked-up text, etc. Maple's Document format certainly does.
Exactly what is new about this, other than a new name and, well, further grist for Stephen Wolfram's publicity mill?
Is the idea simply to have a thin-client reader and offload most of the computation to remote servers? Because if so then that is the innovation, not some new document format.
Less user enablement is what we need by FunkyELF · 2011-07-21 06:22 · Score: 2

I can't stand the monstrosities they try to create using Word and Excel today... don't give them even more power... please
Mathematica rules, CDF drools by turtle+graphics · 2011-07-21 07:55 · Score: 2

I'm a huge fan of Mathematica, and use it all the time for mathematical work. The manipulate command they're leveraging for the CDF is incredibly elegant and simple, as advertised. However, from the Wolfram CDF faq:

Can I remove the welcome screen, toolbar, or watermark logo I see when opening CDFs in CDF Player or viewing CDFs online with the web browser plugin?
The presence of Wolfram branding is part of the FreeCDF licensing terms...
They've got to be kidding if they expect anyone to make serious use of an 'open' format that requires a proprietary player with advertising all over it. Compare with PDF, which is not 'free' but at least seamlessly operates with, say LaTeX.