Re: Impressions of Mathematica 6


"Dave Seaman" <dseaman@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:f1dbaq$i0b$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Thu, 03 May 2007 18:27:31 -0000, Gavin Scott wrote:
Nasser Abbasi <nma@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I am running Mathematica 6 right now.

.....

I find the new help system (at least in its web incarnation) to be almost
completely opaque. Rather than a clearly communicated documentation
hierarchy I now have to figure out which of over 80 first-level sections
in seven somewhat arbitrary categories the information I'm looking for
might be found.


Agreed. I'm hoping it will get easier after I have browsed a bit more.


I hate the new Mathematica help system. It is just links after links. One
needs to keep clicking on links, and then go back again. As if one is inside
a browser not a help system.

I can't understand how the same brilliant engineers would come up with such
a amazing new feature such as Manipulator[] would at the same time destroy a
nice help system that it was. (may be if all keep complaining they will
being the hold help system back)

Any way, for now, we have to live with it. I got a nice reply from a
Mathematica support engineer on this when I submitted a complaint. Here it
is:

"Hello,

Thank you for the email. I understand that the Documentation Center is very
different from the help browser we've all been used to the past 19 years.
The documentation center has been completely rewritten to include new
technology and new features, and there is not a way to have Mathematica 6.0
use the old help browser to view Mathematica 6 documentation. It may take
some time to get used to, but it is actually now much more powerful than the
help browser used to be.

For one, the searches through the search bar now use an advanced search
engine which will actually search the content of all the documentation as
well as other sources and will give you much better results. Information is
now sorted into boxes on the homepage instead of tabs. The Documentation
Center is also now connects with Wolfram data servers to dynamically obtain
and update new content for you as well. Not to mention the documentation is
now much more expansive with many, many more useful examples.

Given some time, I'm sure you will come to appreciate the new features and
power.

Sincerely,"


It (the new help) is pretty, and probably great if you already know the
answer to your question (but then that's really the first rule of
all symbolic math systems :P )

What happens to all the applications and add-ons that were based around
the old help subsystem?

I rather like the detailed documentation pages once you find them, but
I really want the old browser interface and hierarchy back I think.

Is "The Mathematica Book" dead at this point? Any narrative about how
to actually use the software seems to be completely gone now. Bleah
again.


I could not find the Mathematica book in the new help system.

Under 5.2 there was a Documentation/English/MainBook with a notebook for
each section. There seems to be no such thing with 6.0.

correct.

I suspect there
probably isn't even a printed version. However, there is a
Documentation/English/System/ReferencePages that probably contains much
of the same information. It's just arranged differently.


--
Dave Seaman
Oral Arguments in Mumia Abu-Jamal Case to be heard May 17
U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
<http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/>


Nasser


.

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