
What Is a Computational Essay? - signa11
http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2017/11/what-is-a-computational-essay/
======
deerpig
Literate programing is used to tangle text and code. You tangle the document
and the code blocks are pulled out to create a working program. But Orgmode's
Babel, iPython and Wolfram's Computational Essays are literate computing, with
code being executed in the document. Howard Abrams has extended the concept to
create literate devops
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dljNabciEGg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dljNabciEGg))
using orgmode babel where the code in the document is used to configure
software running on local or remote servers.

I use Babel as part of my daily workflow. Very cool stuff.

------
oakridge
If I remember correctly, Mathematica started the notion of having a notebook
interface when working with code, Theodore Gray even has the patent for this
[0]. Even though the post reads like a longform ad for Mathematica and the
Wolfram language, I do agree the notion of code written to present an
idea/solution as a story. Sadly, with Jupyter notebooks being free/open source
and compatible with other language kernels, there seems to be a decline in the
mindshare for Mathematica and its notebook interface among researchers.

[0] Patent US 8407580 B2 - Method and system for presenting input expressions
and evaluations of the input expressions on a workspace of a computational
system
([https://www.google.com/patents/US8407580](https://www.google.com/patents/US8407580))

~~~
zitterbewegung
Mathematica is a great prototyping language for people who know mathematics.
It is the equivalent of Microsoft Excel. The problem is when you want to do
something beyond that you will probably rewrite it in something else. And that
something else is increasingly being Python.

I do like the term "computational essay". It describes a way of presenting
information. While "notebook" feels more to me a set of calculations that may
or may not be commented and don't have a set structure.

It would be neat if we had a standard notebook notation or system that would
subsume all of these competing standards. Unfortunately it would probably end
up like this [https://xkcd.com/927/](https://xkcd.com/927/)

~~~
Volt
>The problem is when you want to do something beyond that you will probably
rewrite it in something else. And that something else is increasingly being
Python.

You aren't going to use your Python code in your Jupyter notebook in
production, are you? Jupyter is for exploration and exposition. You're going
to have to rewrite it anyway.

~~~
zitterbewegung
I didn't say that you would translate a Mathematica workbook into an iPython
notebook.

------
petters
Several posters mention Jupyter, but there also literate programming by Knuth
from 1984.

~~~
ajkjk
Literate programming really feels very different than this, at least in the
examples that are easily found online. Literate programming reads far more
like 'better commenting' (and strikes me as a massive pain to write) and less
like a type of long-form writing.

~~~
fjsolwmv
Literate programming, as Knuth presented it was that the literate/comment part
was the primary document, and the executable code was just a minor detail for
the benefit of the stupid computer that can't read English and only cares
about arithmetic not meaning.

------
lordnacho
Pretty much like Jupyter notebooks. It's a great way to present research,
especially statistical stuff. It's pretty much impossible to verify any
statement about a large dataset without having it to hand and ready to
calculate. Even having the data printed in an appendix is going to be
discouraging verification.

Plus the stories you can tell with this sort of thing are much more vivid. If
someone has a question about some part of the data, they can ask the computer
instead of the author. For a lot of queries.

~~~
nerdponx
AFAICT the idea originated with Mathematica and Jupyter/IPython was "pretty
much like Mathematica".

~~~
kmill
The article even has an image of the interface from 1988.

> And with the release of Mathematica 1.0 in 1988 came another critical
> element: the invention of Wolfram Notebooks. Notebooks arrived in a form at
> least superficially very similar to the way they are today (and already in
> many ways more sophisticated than the imitations that started appearing 25+
> years later!): collections of cells arranged into groups, and capable of
> containing text, executable code, graphics, etc.

~~~
jmmcd
Wolfram really is a terrible liar (also very, very smart). He knows damn well
that Maple had notebooks in the mid-1990s, because it was one of Mathematica's
main commercial rivals, so "started appearing 25+ years later" is nothing
other than a lie.

~~~
Volt
He's not lying. He's referring specifically to Jupyter. Read it again.

That is, consider it as a reference to the _specific_ imitations that started
appearing 25+ years later.

I mean, this was obvious to me, but I'm not sure if it's because you're trying
to be particularly uncharitable to him for some reason.

~~~
jmmcd
I considered that interpretation before writing and I found it impossible to
read that way. For a start, "imitations" is plural, so no, it doesn't just
refer to Jupyter. And "started" certainly implies that other imitations hadn't
appeared before that.

While I'm at it: he _deserves_ an uncharitable reading, because he's having a
dig at Jupyter (which may be an imitation of Mathematica notebooks) and
neglecting to mention any influence of previous work on Mathematica notebooks,
such as Knuth's literate programming.

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Glench
Calling these things "computational essays" is a little like calling essays
written on paper "ink essays". Computation is just the means. Human
understanding is the goal.

I prefer Bret Victor's "explorable explanations"
([http://worrydream.com/#!/ExplorableExplanations](http://worrydream.com/#!/ExplorableExplanations))
because it captures the essence of what this new media is being used for,
while also being more general than Wolfram's conception.

~~~
nerdponx
Eh, more like "writing essays". It's an essay in which the medium is
computation, not just words. It's a bit whimsical but not that bad.

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jgamman
there's a good R/Jupyter blog discussing the same concept but without as much
SW snark that HN comments always seem to have:

[https://blog.ouseful.info/2017/11/15/programming-meh-lets-
te...](https://blog.ouseful.info/2017/11/15/programming-meh-lets-teach-how-to-
write-computational-essays-instead/)

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oldandtired
Looks like a modernisation of the systems ala Framework IV etc of the late
80's and early 90's.

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physicsyogi
This is like Jupyter Notebooks for Mathematica.

~~~
tree_of_item
Mathematica definitely predates iPython.

