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I Wrote a Book to Teach the Wolfram Language

blog.stephenwolfram.com

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Re: I Wrote a Book to Teach the Wolfram Language

#31

Post by mvardin »

danso wrote: post #26

Going to have to join the, I don't quite get what Wolfram thinks is the big deal crowd: > The goal of the book is to take people from zero to the point where they know enough about the Wolfram Language that they can routinely use it to create programs for things they want to do. And when I say “zero”, I really mean “zero”. This is a book for everyone. One of the examples he gives is how to: Make a word cloud from the…

He says the book is zero->useful, you are asking for zero->expert.

FYI here are your answers...

WordCloud[StringTake[WordList[], 1], WordSpacings -> 10] (* spaced out * )

WordCloud[StringTake[WordList[], 1], Binarize[CurrentImage[]]] (* shaped like your face * )

twitter = ServiceConnect["Twitter"]; ServiceExecute[twitter, "ImageTweet", Image ->WordCloud[StringTake[WordList[], 1]]] ( * Tweet a wordcloud *)

For that kind of detail, you will always want the documentation http://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/WordCloud.html

Re: I Wrote a Book to Teach the Wolfram Language

#32

Post by carlob »

danso wrote: post #26

Going to have to join the, I don't quite get what Wolfram thinks is the big deal crowd: > The goal of the book is to take people from zero to the point where they know enough about the Wolfram Language that they can routinely use it to create programs for things they want to do. And when I say “zero”, I really mean “zero”. This is a book for everyone. One of the examples he gives is how to: Make a word cloud from the…

FYI you can write Times, but mostly you'll write . I guess that example was about explaining the lispy concept "everything is an expression". It's right there at the top of the screenshot, he actually went from explaining and + to saying they are actual functions like anything else.

http://www.wolfram.com/language/elementary-introduction/02-i...

Re: I Wrote a Book to Teach the Wolfram Language

#33

Post by carlob »

igravious wrote: post #29

http://www.wolfram.com/language/elementary-introduction/06-m... https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Table.html Strange that this function is called Table when what it clearly is is an iterator that outputs a list. Its output is no more tabular than Range; it outputs an ordered list as does Range. In fact Range[10] seems to be shorthand for Table[n,{n,10}] yet they have completely different names.

Array is also very similar to table

Array[f, {10}] is basically Table[f[n], {n, 10}].

And so Range is Array[Identity, 10]

Re: I Wrote a Book to Teach the Wolfram Language

#34

Post by [deleted] »

frou_dh wrote: post #16
JonnieCache wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Does anyone want to bet as to which will gain self-awareness first: Wolfram Alpha or Wolfram, Stephen?" - Casey Muratori

The like-clockwork sniping at the man whenever he's brought up borders on being more irritating than his original "offence".

[deleted]

Re: I Wrote a Book to Teach the Wolfram Language

#35

Post by jjoonathan »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #28
frou_dh wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The like-clockwork sniping at the man whenever he's brought up borders on being more irritating than his original "offence".

This is what 'dang famously described as a Pavlovian hashtable reflex[0]. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9722096

The root of this comment tree was written by someone who wasn't familiar with Wolfram's reputation but saw cause to gripe anyway. The transition from "Stephen Wolfram" to "absurdly self-centered" occurred by observation, not hashtable.

I hadn't heard of "Pavlov's hashtable" before, it's a neat concept, and I'm glad you brought it up. I just don't think it's responsible for the direction of this particular comment train. Which is in itself a testament to the peculiar qualities of Wolfram's personality.

Re: I Wrote a Book to Teach the Wolfram Language

#36

Post by TeMPOraL »

jjoonathan wrote: post #35
TeMPOraL wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what 'dang famously described as a Pavlovian hashtable reflex[0]. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9722096

The root of this comment tree was written by someone who wasn't familiar with Wolfram's reputation but saw cause to gripe anyway. The transition from "Stephen Wolfram" to "absurdly self-centered" occurred by observation, not hashtable. I hadn't heard of "Pavlov's hashtable" before, it's a neat concept, and I'm glad you brought it up. I just don't think it's responsible for the direction of this particular comment tra…

Fair enough. I was providing a reference to the phenomenon 'frou_dh described.

Re: I Wrote a Book to Teach the Wolfram Language

#37

Post by JackFr »

xupybd wrote: post #8

Just me or does that guy seem to lack humility, I don't know something about the way he wrote that.

He is that irritating combination of someone who lacks humility and is unable to ever admit being wrong (except superfluously to make a larger point) and yet is demonstrably, objectively a genius.

Re: I Wrote a Book to Teach the Wolfram Language

#38

Post by jordigh »

nnq wrote: post #5

...if only S. Wolfram would finally have the most obvious insight that he's totally missing: Open-source it! The only programming languages that will ever succeed from now on will be the open source ones . Yeah, he can keep special-purpose libraries closed-source. And the server-software behind Wolfram. Maybe even the Mathematica GUI if he also offers a free "community version" or something on the side. But otherwise…

Wolfram has never freed up anything. I would be extremely surprised if he ever did it. Leadership of his company would have to change, I think, before he considered releasing anything as free software.

Re: I Wrote a Book to Teach the Wolfram Language

#39

Post by ska »

frou_dh wrote: post #16
JonnieCache wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Does anyone want to bet as to which will gain self-awareness first: Wolfram Alpha or Wolfram, Stephen?" - Casey Muratori

The like-clockwork sniping at the man whenever he's brought up borders on being more irritating than his original "offence".

That is unfair.

JonnieCache didn't bring this up, in response to what reads as an honest response by someone not familiar with Wolfram.

This quote is a succinct way of pointing out that Wolfram is, in fact, famously lacking in humility and self awareness, to the degree that many find it detracts from his legitimate achievements.

Re: I Wrote a Book to Teach the Wolfram Language

#40

Post by jordigh »

JackFr wrote: post #37
xupybd wrote: post #8

Just me or does that guy seem to lack humility, I don't know something about the way he wrote that.

He is that irritating combination of someone who lacks humility and is unable to ever admit being wrong (except superfluously to make a larger point) and yet is demonstrably, objectively a genius.

It is not clear how much of a genius he is or not. His NKS is just a bunch of repackaged ideas, mostly unacknowledged, with lots of pretty pictures, with some original work. It's borderline crank mathematics. The other things attributed to him are dubious, as he has a big problem attributing to himself the work of others. He has threatened to sue employees of his who try to publish mathematical results of their own without attributing them to his company. He keeps acting like Mathematica was all him, whereas in reality he got it from a bunch of coauthors after suing them into submission and silence. It's difficult to find any evidence of this other than oblique allusions, because, well, he won or settled the lawsuits in his favour.

Wolfram certainly has talent, but like Steve Jobs, it may be more people-talent to know how to manipulate and impress others than mathematics talent. He certainly has some of the latter too.

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