2009-03-22

Random thoughts from the Mathematica password file

by Forrest Sheng Bao http://fsbao.net

Well, it is located here: YOUR_MATHEMATICA_LOCATION/Configuration/Licensing/mathpass

At least on Linux, it is so. I am not sure about Mac and Windows case.

Actually, I think Wolfram Research uses a very weak way to protect their copyright. The password file looks like this: There is not encryption, but total transparent. Thus, anyone just need to copy this file to another machine, then Mathematica will work on that machine.

I think Mathematica did great scientific visualization job. So, if you want to make your biological paper more fancy, maybe you should try my combination: Python (SciPy) for bioinformatics computing + Mathematica to attract girls eyeballs - Just try ProteinData["A2M", "MoleculePlot"] and then rotate the 3-D structure of protein and then ask the girl next to you "Wanna have dinner with me some time?"



A weak point of open source software is visualization while a killer point is their great performance. If you combine open source solutions along with commercial solutions, you can publish great papers while having a pretty girlfriend - This is not a scientific conclusion. LOL.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great visualization usually doesn't come from computers, though..
http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/historical.html
btw, your protein pic is pretty dull, it doesn't grab my eyes and I don't think it would grab a girl's, either.

I'm Ke back in Dr Tian's lab, thought you may remember me. Maybe we can talk sometime. I'm also interested in data visualization.