This 1000 page volume is exceptionally well written and is indeed an easy read.
What stroke me most is the fact that it offers several access routes to learning Mma,
for the newbie, for the impatient, for the expert, ... The focus is on general design
principles while formal aspects are delayed to later chapters. It would appreciate if more
software documentation would strive for such high standards.
B. Friedrich --- May, 2007
The Mathematica GuideBook
Has anyone read the new Michael Trott books?
Michael Trott, The Mathematica GuideBook for programming
Michael Trott, The Mathematica GuideBook for graphics
This book represents 11 years of work from Michael Trott. With about 1300 pages, it provides a wealth of information about math, graphics and Mathematica. If you have used Mathematica for a few months, then reading this book will accelerate your understanding of what can be done with Mathematica. One can always learn from others and this book is an incredible gift from Michael to all mathematica users. One can read between the lines how Michael's uses of the program has shaped Mathematica over the years. This book justifies the invention of the expression "Trottiens'Graphics". It is heavy, it is costly, but it is a requirement if you want to understand what can be done with Mathematica. Reading it, I felt that I was learning one new technique every page. Thank you Michael Trott.
Luc Barthelet January 2005.
I did browse all four books, not for the first time. They are in fact a scan of more than 15 years of the mathematical as well as the theoretical and mathematical physics literature with respect to its ability to be illustrated by Mathematica or even to be implemented with Mathematica. In addition to that, a lot of original work of M. Trott - from expert usage of well known Mma built-in commands up to stunning visualization and implementation ideas - is included. The page 849 of the Graphics volume could very well serve as a poem about the functional programming style in its essence - and let's you admire the parser writers at Wolfram too. On the other hand, more substantially, it is well known, that every real mathematician did hard "experi-mental" work to find new relations among the objects, to see where new mathematical objects or even notions could be build and how to check the assumptions about such objects. This is the point, where Mma could prove invaluable, too - as a mathematical laboratorium. And this four books of Trott show many ways how to start working in a mathematical laboratorium using Mathematica.
U. Krause --- January 2006.
I have read Trott's GuideBook for Graphics and was slightly disappointed since it does not reach the high pedagogical standards set by the Mathematica book. Admittedly, this book contains a wealth of information and studying the material in detail may sharpen the reader's understanding of Mma. However, Trott's clever ideas are not presented in a straightforward manner but burried deep inside source code and scattered over many examples.
B. Friedrich --- May 2007
Roman Maeder's books
Roman Maeder, ''Programming in Mathematica'', Addison-Wesley, 1991
Roman Maeder, ''The Mathematica programmer'', Academic Press, 1994
Roman Maeder, ''The Mathematica programmer II'', Academic Press, 1996
Roman Maeder, ''Computer science with Mathematica'', Cambridge, 2000
Roman Maeder was initially involved in the development of Mathematica. Thanks to this position, he was able in his books not only to teach Mathematica from basic to advanced level and from theoretical aspects to practical uses, but also to lead readers to a better understanding of its underlying philosophy and of its spirit. More specifically, he gives evidence Mathematica would be a good choice to teach a whole curriculum in computer science and even for substantial parts of mathematical modelling or scientific computing.
Remi
Mathematica : calcul formel et programmation symbolique pour l'informatique scientifique
Rémi Barrère, ''Mathematica'', Vuibert, 2002.
D'abord un bouquin classique d'apprentissage et d'applications. Ensuite, et surtout, un lien original et direct entre les problèmes concrets du programmeur et les théories qui y répondent, présentées de manière exotérique .
Alba 05:53, 27 Jan 2005 (Pacific Standard Time)
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