Free-Form Linguistic Input In Mathematica 8

vbraga writes "With the release of Mathematica 8, it now allows input through free-form English instead of the Mathematica syntax, just like the Wolfram|Alpha engine. The results are impressive. From the blog post: 'I routinely found myself using free-form linguistics as an integral part of longer computations — randomly interspersing Mathematica syntax and free-form linguistics on different lines in a Mathematica session, and just using whichever was most convenient for a particular input. And here's an exciting part: in Mathematica 8 the free-form linguistics doesn't just operate line-by-line. It knows the context in which it's used in a notebook, so you can use it to build things up.'"

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Re:Freeform linguistics no good unless perfect

[gman003]

Except it's inconsistent about things. Type in "tensile strength of steel", it gives you a table of mechanical properties for steel. Type in "tensile strength of aluminum", and it ignores the "tensile strength" and just gives you chemical info on Aluminum. Tried a few variations in syntax, and tried spelling it the British way, no luck. It's a useful tool, but the parser seems inconsistent, probably the worst thing a program can be.

Re:ability to turn it off

[Tacvek]

To use freeform syntax, you prepend your command with an equals sign. So even if you cannot turn it off, you can very easily just ignore it as a feature. The idea is to use it where convenient, like tell it to graph a function, and let it take a guess at an appropriate range to graph it over. If you don't like the results, you can edit the displayed Mathematica syntax command it displays, and you still saved yourself a bit of work.

It emphatically is not intended for being used in scripts, but is only intended for use in an interactive session, so you will notice the errors. Indeed using it in scripts is a very bad idea, since Alpha will continue to be updated, and may interpret the same phrase differently at a later date.

Re:Basically just Wolfram Alpha integration

[thegarbz]

I highly doubt going after students who have the choice between two free alternatives is the answer. For the vast majority of us engineering students the options are a) piracy, or b) use it at the university which already licences this kind of software per student. This is non-essential software for most people, and where it is essential it is often provided.

More likely it makes sense because it ... simply makes sense. Having the data right there at your fingertips inside Mathematica is a logical extension of Wolfram Alpha, much like the default action in Google Chrome to handle a non-url input in the address bar is to do a Google search.