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Re: Stephen Wolfram's recent blog
Posted:
Feb 19, 2013 6:51 PM
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On Tuesday, February 19, 2013 1:09:41 AM UTC-5, John Doty wrote:
> On Monday, February 18, 2013 4:00:29 AM UTC-7, Vince Virgilio wrote:
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> > The Mathematica "language" is roughly the Abstract Syntax Tree mechanics that most
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> > compilers use internally. It can indeed be separated from the leaves or terminals of the
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> > syntax tree, where most of WRI's intellectual property lives---the algorithms.
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> Ah, but there's another layer that's essential: pattern matching and replacement. Without that, the syntax is meaningless. Mathematica isn't like a language that gets compiled to machine language or pseudocode.
Maybe. I'm no expert. But I think conventional compilers have to do things internally very similar to what Mathematica exposes as pattern matching and replacement. That might have been a big component of Stephen Wolfram's genius in promoting the language. Less is More --- at a cost.
Vince
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