An Introduction to Programming With Mathematica [Hardcover]

J. Gaylord Richard (Author), Samuel N. Kamin (Author), Paul R. Wellin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0387944346 | ISBN-13: 978-0387944340 | Edition: 2nd

Accompanying the book, as with all TELOS sponsored publications, is an electronic component. In this case it is a DOS-Diskette produced by one of the coauthors, Paul Wellin. This diskette consists of Mathematica notebooks and packages which contain the codes for all examples and exercises in the book, as well as additional materials intended to extend many ideas covered in the text. It is of great value to teachers, students, and others using this book to learn how to effectively program with Mathematica .

Product Details

• Hardcover: 475 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 2nd edition (October 12, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387944346
• ISBN-13: 978-0387944340
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,461,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Out of date...but still can be useful, March 1, 2002

By 

Dr. Lee D. Carlson (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An Introduction to Programming With Mathematica (Hardcover)

Mathematica is now in version 4.1, and this book was written in the time of Version 2.2, but it still could be read profitably if cognizance is made of the significant additions made to Mathematica since 2.2. The "Lispy" nature of Mathematica is still the same, and it still ranks as one of the easiest and most powerful of languages to program in. The authors have done a good job of introducing the reader to the subtleties of Mathematica, and they are honest in their explanations, pointing out the areas where using Mathematica might be problematic. A person getting started in Mathematica will no doubt want to read something that is more up-to-date, but this book is designed for such a reader and it has a lot of interesting ideas of how to apply the language.
One of the better features of the book includes the discussion on functions. The functional programming paradigm is one that I favor the most, and which is most transparently used in Mathematica. The authors do a good job of explaining anonymous functions in Mathematica and how to create the famous "one-liners" that Mathematica is famous for.
Another topic that is treated very well by the authors is recursion. Mathematica is mostly easily programmed using recursion, and the authors show, starting with the Fibonacci numbers, how to "think recursively". Readers who know Lisp will of course find the discussion very easy to follow.
A third edition of this book is in order, again since Mathematica has changed considerably since this book was written. More discussion on performance issues in Mathematica would be welcome, and also more examples and applications, along with more discussion on how to link Mathematica to external programs.