Connectivity to other programs

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Connectivity to other programs

Using the Tcl expect package it is possible to establish dialogs within Oorange, with other running programs. This package facilitates sending commands to remote programs and returning results. The program must accept some sort of interactive command stream. This has been succesfully done with Mathematica [16], and refined to the point that arrays generated in Mathematica can be converted to OoDataGrid's, and vice-versa, surfaces generated in Oorange can be shipped to Mathematica to generate Postscript output. This is a very good example, since the strengths and weaknesses of the two products are well-matched: Oorange provides an articulated object-oriented structure that Mathematica lacks, while Mathematica can be invoked for symbolic computation. A fitting image of the relationship is that Oorange is a sturdy tree and Mathematica a fruitful vine climbing upon it.