application - Can Mathematica be used for developing "normal" stand-alone software?

Can Mathematica be used for developing "normal" stand-alone software? I understand "normal" is not a very good qualifier. What I mean by it is software that people usually develop in Java and C++ so it can be "installed" on computers and be launched by double clicking etc. I hope this makes sense. If there is, could you list some non-trivial examples besides anything made by Wolfram in-house such as Wolfram Alpha?

Answer

Yes Mathematica executables can be distributed as CDF documents either directly or the Wolfram Kernel can be accessed programmatically in multiple ways via the Cloud and the Internet. The Wolfram kernel that is installed by both CDF player and Mathematica can be thought of (crudely) as the Virtual Machine the executable needs to access to run - so its just like Java or .Net in this respect, more so when you consider there is also a browser plug in.

To take the analogy further - Mathematica is the IDE (integrated development environment) where you write & test your code and CDF player is the run-time.

For lots of non-trivial examples see:

http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/

My favourite is the Radial Engine.

http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/RadialEngine/

People who are serious about writing Mathematica programs mighttake things one step further and use Wolfram Workbench (which is just the Eclipse IDE modified for Wolfram Language code development), together with a Version Control System (VCS) like Git. Infact my company has just spent some time working with a Wolfram consultant to produce a CDF Application who used exactly this set up.

A seriously heavyweight example with probably man years of Wolfram Language code in it:

http://emeraldcloudlab.com/

A commercial Smart Meter analytics Application competing with solutions from major vendors such as SAP.

http://www.wolfram.com/broadcast/video.php?c=311&v=74

~~one~~ three more for the road

As requested a video player in Mathematica - enjoy ;)

How to build a bvh (a motion capture file format) player in Mathematica?

3D turn based strategy.

http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/3DChess/

3D puzzler/fps/God sim Mathematica Minecraft

One more for the road

Mathematica integrated with Unity game engine.

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 - Adding a thick curve to a regionplot

Suppose we have the following simple RegionPlot: f[x_] := 1 - x^2 g[x_] := 1 - 0.5 x^2 RegionPlot[{y < f[x], f[x] < y < g[x], y > g[x]}, {x, 0, 2}, {y, 0, 2}] Now I'm trying to change the curve defined by $y=g[x]$ into a thick black curve, while leaving all other boundaries in the plot unchanged. I've tried adding the region $y=g[x]$ and playing with the plotstyle, which didn't work, and I've tried BoundaryStyle, which changed all the boundaries in the plot. Now I'm kinda out of ideas... Any help would be appreciated! Answer With f[x_] := 1 - x^2 g[x_] := 1 - 0.5 x^2 You can use Epilog to add the thick line: RegionPlot[{y < f[x], f[x] < y < g[x], y > g[x]}, {x, 0, 2}, {y, 0, 2}, PlotPoints -> 50, Epilog -> (Plot[g[x], {x, 0, 2}, PlotStyle -> {Black, Thick}][[1]]), PlotStyle -> {Directive[Yellow, Opacity[0.4]], Directive[Pink, Opacity[0.4]],

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