Wolfram for data processing and visualization

Wolfram is a modern multi-paradigm, mainly functional programming language with a strong focus on user-friendliness and intuitive use. Therefore it is highly declarative in nature and focuses on a transparent and uniform syntax. Furthermore, Wolfram possesses several unique features that greatly add to the scope of the language and simplify tasks such as software deployment. This paper focuses on the use of Wolfram as a functional programming language for data processing and visualization. The main goal is to provide insight in the benefits and weaknesses of this language compared to other (functional) technologies for these specific tasks. This is done via a case study in which Wolfram code for a specific task is compared to analogue solutions in different languages. During the case study it quickly became apparent that the Wolfram syntax is unique and intuitive to use. Because of its very declarative nature complex tasks often take only a few lines of code, and are easy to perform. On the other hand, issues with interpretation of code started to appear when Wolfram was used for more complex tasks. The performance of Wolfram also appeared to be sub-par compared to other popular programming languages. Therefore, this case study determined that Wolfram is a very suitable language for quickly creating small applications for data processing and visualization, but for complex and computationally expensive applications other languages might be more suitable.status: accepte