programming - Is using undocumented functionality a Bad Idea™?

Mathematica has a lot of very useful undocumented features. For example a hash table, a built-in list of compilable functions, additional options to CurrentValue, {"Raw", n} histogram bin specification, etc...

A natural question that arises is: Why is this functionality undocumented? Is it because the feature is under development? Or because the syntax has not been finalized and may be changed? Something else?

Also: Is using this functionality safe in the sense that it will not cause problems when a new version is released?

Answer

The two main arguments against using undocumented functions are:

Your code might not work as expected in future versions;

Your code might not work as you intended in the current version, because you only have a partial understanding of a function or option that is undocumented.

In the case of Mathematica, though, there is no guarantee that even documented functions will remain unchanged in future versions.

The two main arguments for using undocumented functions are:

Oftentimes they presage the permanent inclusion of that functionality in a future version. For example, ScalingFunctions is only documented for charting functions like BarChart, but it has been shown to work also for ListPlot and Plot (but not DateListPlot). I predict that they will get around to completing (and documenting) this functionality in a future version. (EDIT: In fact, that's exactly what happened in 10.4, even though the online version of the documentation doesn't make it clear that this is new.)

The functionality might be documented, but not completely documented. For example, some option values (say PlotRegion) are documented as applying to "graphics functions", without specifying which ones. So the functionality is there, and might well remain stable for several versions.

Mathematica is a complex system with an enormous array of possibilities for the use and abuse of its rich functionality. Even with the massive documentation that exists, there are bound to be some undocumented or incompletely documented functions. Undocumented functions (and options) need to used with some care, but given the usefulness of some of the functionality they offer, it might well be worth the risk.

Comments

plotting - Filling between two spheres in SphericalPlot3D

Manipulate[ SphericalPlot3D[{1, 2 - n}, {θ, 0, Pi}, {ϕ, 0, 1.5 Pi}, Mesh -> None, PlotPoints -> 15, PlotRange -> {-2.2, 2.2}], {n, 0, 1}] I cant' seem to be able to make a filling between two spheres. I've already tried the obvious Filling -> {1 -> {2}} but Mathematica doesn't seem to like that option. Is there any easy way around this or ... Answer There is no built-in filling in SphericalPlot3D . One option is to use ParametricPlot3D to draw the surfaces between the two shells: Manipulate[ Show[SphericalPlot3D[{1, 2 - n}, {θ, 0, Pi}, {ϕ, 0, 1.5 Pi}, PlotPoints -> 15, PlotRange -> {-2.2, 2.2}], ParametricPlot3D[{ r {Sin[t] Cos[1.5 Pi], Sin[t] Sin[1.5 Pi], Cos[t]}, r {Sin[t] Cos[0 Pi], Sin[t] Sin[0 Pi], Cos[t]}}, {r, 1, 2 - n}, {t, 0, Pi}, PlotStyle -> Yellow, Mesh -> {2, 15}]], {n, 0, 1}]

plotting - Plot 4D data with color as 4th dimension

I have a list of 4D data (x position, y position, amplitude, wavelength). I want to plot x, y, and amplitude on a 3D plot and have the color of the points correspond to the wavelength. I have seen many examples using functions to define color but my wavelength cannot be expressed by an analytic function. Is there a simple way to do this? Answer Here a another possible way to visualize 4D data: data = Flatten[Table[{x, y, x^2 + y^2, Sin[x - y]}, {x, -Pi, Pi,Pi/10}, {y,-Pi,Pi, Pi/10}], 1]; You can use the function Point along with VertexColors . Now the points are places using the first three elements and the color is determined by the fourth. In this case I used Hue, but you can use whatever you prefer. Graphics3D[ Point[data[[All, 1 ;; 3]], VertexColors -> Hue /@ data[[All, 4]]], Axes -> True, BoxRatios -> {1, 1, 1/GoldenRatio}]

plotting - Mathematica: 3D plot based on combined 2D graphs

I have several sigmoidal fits to 3 different datasets, with mean fit predictions plus the 95% confidence limits (not symmetrical around the mean) and the actual data. I would now like to show these different 2D plots projected in 3D as in but then using proper perspective. In the link here they give some solutions to combine the plots using isometric perspective, but I would like to use proper 3 point perspective. Any thoughts? Also any way to show the mean points per time point for each series plus or minus the standard error on the mean would be cool too, either using points+vertical bars, or using spheres plus tubes. Below are some test data and the fit function I am using. Note that I am working on a logit(proportion) scale and that the final vertical scale is Log10(percentage). (* some test data *) data = Table[Null, {i, 4}]; data[[1]] = {{1, -5.8}, {2, -5.4}, {3, -0.8}, {4, -0.2}, {5, 4.6}, {1, -6.4}, {2, -5.6}, {3, -0.7}, {4, 0.04}, {5, 1.0}, {1, -6.8}, {2, -4.7}, {3, -1.

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