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Mathematica 7.0 Released Today

blog.wolfram.com

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Re: Mathematica 7.0 Released Today

#21

Post by nswanberg »

Those of you interested in Silicon Valley trivia might note that the name Mathematica was suggested by someone named Steven Jobs: http://reference.wolfram.com/legacy/v1/contents/acknowledgme...

The name is a little misleading though, as the later releases have shown Mathematica to be a great general symbolic manipulation program not just for, say, Calculus homework, but Wolfram had already used the name SMP, and the other options just didn't seem as catchy: http://www.stephenwolfram.com/scrapbook/internals/page5/3.ht...

Re: Mathematica 7.0 Released Today

#22

Post by DaniFong »

Alex3917 wrote: post #9
DaniFong wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 10^10^(big number) years? :-)

It's funny to think that the singularity, if it is coming, will produce this profound qualitative shift in human existence. And at the same time mean absolutely nothing in the face of a problem such as this.

shrugs

I have the feeling that if anything like the 'singularity' happens, it will feel fairly normal to the participants. There are many things today that would seem completely 'sci-fi' to people even a few decades ago. But we're still going to be resource and physics constrained, unless society changes our conscious enough that memes and genes won't still end up in an endless hunt for exponential growth.

Re: Mathematica 7.0 Released Today

#24

Post by nswanberg »

mattjaynes wrote: post #14

If you missed Wolfram's talk at Startup School you can get it at (along with the other talks): http://feeds.feedburner.com/Ycombinator-StartupSchool

Unfortunately, the link to the Wolfram talk on Feedburner isn't working. Here's a link to the transcript of the talk (the mp3 is also available for iPod-achievers by going to the talk index): http://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/talks/ycombinator...

The talk is worth a read, but he doesn't give out any secrets to success ("work hard"), and note that the title of the talk is "On Starting a Long Term Company." It seems aimed at solving the problem of "How can I get the people, software, and money for my research?" rather than the problem of "How can I afford that ocean-front mansion and retire at 30?"

Re: Mathematica 7.0 Released Today

#25

Post by syntax-case »

etal wrote: post #4

Sweet Jesus. The image-processing capability is pretty hot, as is this: ProteinData["A2M", "MoleculePlot"] It's a shame Mathematica isn't open-source; I'd love to see the code.

Why? Do you think there's something special about displaying molecules? Or do you think Mathematica does it better than anything else?

Try PyMOL - the most widely used molecular graphics software, probably.

Re: Mathematica 7.0 Released Today

#27

Post by maximilian »

newt0311 wrote: post #15
delackner wrote: post #8

While I will probably never use mathematica, due to its breathtaking price, one can only wonder how many researchers the world over simply pirate it. I also doubt we will ever see Wolfram willing to set the price at a level that normal human beings can afford. Perhaps a client-server version that does all its computing back at Wolfram's servers, would give them the confidence to dabble with a sane price point...

researchers work in universities, almost all of which have site-wide licenses. Site-wide licenses for mathematica also start to approach reason. Its doubtful that that many researchers will have to pirate it.

A site license is a lot. My dept can't afford it and use Maple instead.

Re: Mathematica 7.0 Released Today

#28

Post by programnature »

syntax-case wrote: post #25
etal wrote: post #4

Sweet Jesus. The image-processing capability is pretty hot, as is this: ProteinData["A2M", "MoleculePlot"] It's a shame Mathematica isn't open-source; I'd love to see the code.

Why? Do you think there's something special about displaying molecules? Or do you think Mathematica does it better than anything else? Try PyMOL - the most widely used molecular graphics software, probably.

I think the point is that you have to type about 30 characters to get a 3d plot of the molecule of choice. Unlike M-, PyMOL doesn't have the data built-in, so you have to find, download, load etc yourself.

Re: Mathematica 7.0 Released Today

#30

Post by syntax-case »

programnature wrote: post #28
syntax-case wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Do you think there's something special about displaying molecules? Or do you think Mathematica does it better than anything else? Try PyMOL - the most widely used molecular graphics software, probably.

I think the point is that you have to type about 30 characters to get a 3d plot of the molecule of choice. Unlike M-, PyMOL doesn't have the data built-in, so you have to find, download, load etc yourself.

4 characters with PyMOL:

Click Plugin, then PDB Load; then type 1UBQ

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