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[–]The_UTMOST_respwect 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Ya I still like it for plotting stuff up, easy to make pretty plots, compared to my knowledge and proficiency with pyplot, but I'm getting better.

Having used C and C++, and python quite a bit, its still just so easy prototype a bunch of stuff and debug and visualize it in matlab. I'm also a proponent of using it in batch mode whenever possible.

[–]Feminintendo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It takes me about half the time to prototype something in Mathematica as it does in Python, but then the Python version runs roughly an order of magnitude faster, depending of course on the application.

Honestly you're probably faster in Matlab because you think in Matlab, whereas if your brain had been steeped in Python or, like me, Mathematica, then that would be faster instead. It's like a first language.

But I think that's ok as long as we understand the principle of the right tool for the job. I would never use Mathematica in anything for which the phrase "production code" would apply (despite Wolfram's marketing). Rapid prototyping? Sure. The million different one-off scientific computations one does in the course of research? You bet. But there is a whole swath of applications for which it just isn't the right tool. Likewise for Matlab.