Wolfram Mathematica

Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:For Template:Expand German Template:Infobox software Wolfram Mathematica is a software system with built-in libraries for several areas of technical computing that allows machine learning, statistics, symbolic computation, data manipulation, network analysis, time series analysis, NLP, optimization, plotting functions and various types of data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other programming languages. It was conceived by Stephen Wolfram, and is developed by Wolfram Research of Champaign, Illinois.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Wolfram Language is the programming language used in Mathematica.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mathematica 1.0 was released on June 23, 1988 in Champaign, Illinois and Santa Clara, California.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mathematica's Wolfram Language is fundamentally based on Lisp; for example, the Mathematica command Most is identically equal to the Lisp command butlast. There is a substantial literature on the development of computer algebra systems (CAS).

Notebook interface

Mathematica is split into two parts: the kernel and the front end. The kernel interprets expressions (Wolfram Language code) and returns result expressions, which can then be displayed by the front end.

The original front end, designed by Theodore Gray<ref>Patent US8407580 Google Patent Search</ref> in 1988, consists of a notebook interface and allows the creation and editing of notebook documents that can contain code, plaintext, images, and graphics.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Code development is also supported through support in a range of standard integrated development environment (IDE) including Eclipse,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> IntelliJ IDEA,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Atom, Vim, Visual Studio Code and Git. The Mathematica Kernel also includes a command line front end.<ref>Using a Text-Based Interface Template:Webarchive documentation at wolfram.com</ref>

Other interfaces include JMath,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> based on GNU Readline and WolframScript<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which runs self-contained Mathematica programs (with arguments) from the UNIX command line.

High-performance computing

Capabilities for high-performance computing were extended with the introduction of packed arrays in version 4 (1999)<ref>Math software packs new power; new programs automate such tedious processes as solving nonlinear differential equations and converting units by Agnes Shanley, Chemical Engineering, March 1, 2002.</ref> and sparse matrices (version 5, 2003),<ref>Mathematica 5.1: additional features make software well-suited for operations research professionals Template:Webarchive by ManMohan S. Sodhi, OR/MS Today, December 1, 2004.</ref> and by adopting the GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic Library to evaluate high-precision arithmetic.

Version 5.2 (2005) added automatic multi-threading when computations are performed on multi-core computers.<ref>The 21st annual Editors' Choice Awards Template:Webarchive, Macworld, February 1, 2006.</ref> This release included CPU-specific optimized libraries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition Mathematica is supported by third party specialist acceleration hardware such as ClearSpeed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2002, gridMathematica was introduced to allow user level parallel programming on heterogeneous clusters and multiprocessor systems<ref>gridMathematica offers parallel computing solution Template:Webarchive by Dennis Sellers, MacWorld, November 20, 2002.</ref> and in 2008 parallel computing technology was included in all Mathematica licenses including support for grid technology such as Windows HPC Server 2008, Microsoft Compute Cluster Server and Sun Grid.

Support for CUDA and OpenCL GPU hardware was added in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Extensions

As of Version 14, there are 6,602 built-in functions and symbols in the Wolfram Language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Stephen Wolfram announced the launch of the Wolfram Function Repository in June 2019 as a way for the public Wolfram community to contribute functionality to the Wolfram Language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At the time of Stephen Wolfram's release announcement for Mathematica 13, there were 2,259 functions contributed as Resource Functions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition to the Wolfram Function Repository, there is a Wolfram Data Repository with computable data and the Wolfram Neural Net Repository for machine learning.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Wolfram Mathematica is the basis of the Combinatorica package, which adds discrete mathematics functionality in combinatorics and graph theory to the program.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Connections to other applications, programming languages, and services

Communication with other applications can be done using a protocol called Wolfram Symbolic Transfer Protocol (WSTP). It allows communication between the Wolfram Mathematica kernel and the front end and provides a general interface between the kernel and other applications.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Wolfram Research freely distributes a developer kit for linking applications written in the programming language C to the Mathematica kernel through WSTP using J/Link.,<ref name="macworld.com">Mathematica 4.2 Template:Webarchive by Charles Seiter, Macworld, November 1, 2002.</ref> a Java program that can ask Mathematica to perform computations. Similar functionality is achieved with .NET /Link,<ref>.NET/Link Template:Webarchive: .NET/Link is a toolkit that integrates Mathematica and the Microsoft .NET Framework.</ref> but with .NET programs instead of Java programs.

Other languages that connect to Mathematica include Haskell,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> AppleScript,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Racket,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Visual Basic,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Python,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Clojure.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mathematica supports the generation and execution of Modelica models for systems modeling and connects with Wolfram System Modeler.

Links are also available to many third-party software packages and APIs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mathematica can also capture real-time data from a variety of sources<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and can read and write to public blockchains (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and ARK).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

It supports import and export of over 220 data, image, video, sound, computer-aided design (CAD), geographic information systems (GIS),<ref>Mathematica 6 Labs Review Template:Webarchive Cadalyst Feb 1, 2008</ref> document, and biomedical formats.

In 2019, support was added for compiling Wolfram Language code to LLVM.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Version 12.3 of the Wolfram Language added support for Arduino.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Computable data

Mathematica is also integrated with Wolfram Alpha, an online answer engine that provides additional data, some of which is kept updated in real time, for users who use Mathematica with an internet connection. Some of the data sets include astronomical, chemical, geopolitical, language, biomedical, airplane, and weather data, in addition to mathematical data (such as knots and polyhedra).<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Reception

BYTE in 1989 listed Mathematica as among the "Distinction" winners of the BYTE Awards, stating that it "is another breakthrough Macintosh application ... it could enable you to absorb the algebra and calculus that seemed impossible to comprehend from a textbook".<ref name="byte198901">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Mathematica has been criticized for being closed source.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Wolfram Research claims keeping Mathematica closed source is central to its business model and the continuity of the software.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

References

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External links

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Template:Official website
Mathematica Documentation Center
A little bit of Mathematica history documenting the growth of code base and number of functions over time

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