An Elementary Introduction to the Wolfram Language, Third Edition

by Stephen Wolfram

Overview

The Wolfram Language represents a major advance in programming languages that makes leading-edge computation accessible to everyone. Unique in its approach of building in vast knowledge and automation, the Wolfram Language scales from a single line of easy-to-understand interactive code to million-line production systems. wolfram.com/language, This book provides an elementary introduction to the Wolfram Language and modern computational thinking. It assumes no prior knowledge of programming, and is suitable for both technical and non-technical college and middle-to-high-school students, as well as anyone with an interest in the latest technology and its practical application. Wolfram/eiwl

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781944183073
Publisher:	Wolfram Media Inc.
Publication date:	04/11/2023
Edition description:	3rd Revised ed.
Pages:	376
Sales rank:	436,672
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Stephen Wolfram is the creator of the Wolfram Language, as well as Wolfram|Alpha and Mathematica. He has been a pioneer in the science and technology of computation for nearly four decades. He started using computers while doing physics research in his early teens, and made many important discoveries that led eventually to his groundbreaking 2002 book A New Kind of Science. Since 1987, Wolfram has been CEO of Wolfram Research, one of the world's most respected software companies, known for its long history of technical innovation. Stephenwolfram.com

Table of Contents

Preface vii

What Is the Wolfram Language? xi

Practicalities of Using the Wolfram Language xiii

Other Resources xv

1 Starting Out: Elementary Arithmetic 1

2 Introducing Functions 3

3 First Look at Lists 7

4 Displaying Lists 15

5 Operations on Lists 15

6 Making Tables 19

7 Colors and Styles 25

8 Basic Graphics Objects 29

9 Interactive Manipulation 33

10 Images 39

11 Strings and Text 45

12 Sound 53

13 Arrays, or Lists of Lists 57

14 Coordinates and Graphics 63

15 The Scope of the Wolfram Language 73

16 Real-World Data 77

17 Units 87

18 Geocomputation 93

19 Dates and Times 101

20 Options 109

21 Graphs and Networks 117

22 Machine Learning 125

23 More about Numbers 135

24 More Forms of Visualization 143

25 Ways to Apply Functions 147

26 Pure Anonymous Functions 153

27 Applying Functions Repeatedly 159

28 Tests and Conditionals 169

29 More about Pure Functions 177

30 Rearranging Lists 183

31 Parts of Lists 193

32 Patterns 199

33 Expressions and Their Structure 205

34 Associations 213

35 Natural Language Understanding 219

36 Creating Websites and Apps 225

37 Layout and Display 235

38 Assigning Names to Things 241

39 Immediate and Delayed Values 247

40 Defining Your Own Functions 251

41 More about Patterns 257

42 String Patterns and Templates 263

43 Storing Things 269

44 Importing and Exporting 275

45 Datasets 285

46 Writing Good Code 299

47 Debugging Your Code 305

What We Haven't Discussed 309

Afterword: Being a Programmer 317

Answers to Exercises 319

Index 327