Message Boards Message Boards

Can Wolfram Language functions such as DataSet be used in Mathematica?

Posted 10 years ago

In looking through the Wolfram Language functions, I noticed new language features such as DataSet. This could be extremely useful in current projects. Can these new features be used in Mathematica?

Also we work on applications with very strict security guidelines (for example, HIPAA compliance for medical data and additional security STIGs). Mention of the use of anything "cloud" related will trigger an extensive security review of projects - especially any data sent over The Internet to a server for calculation. Is there a way to use Wolfram Language without a "cloud" components that touch the public Internet?

POSTED BY: Doug Kimzey
3 Replies

Marco - Thanks for the reply.

I like most of what I am seeing in the Wolfram Language documentation. The only concern is the requirement of a connection to a externally hosted cloud or locally hosted cloud server. There are obvious security concerns on sending data to a server over the Internet. There are elevated concerns around hosting a local cloud. Both scenarios raise immediate security obstacles that must be cleared before proceeding.

A few questions that will be asked by my management are:

  1. If it is never connected to the Internet, what functionality in Wolfram Desktop would be missing?

  2. Will the Wolfram Language include the ability to interact with Microsoft .net Framework via NetLink?

  3. How will users of ExcelLink be affected?

POSTED BY: Doug Kimzey

Dear Doug,

I am certainly not an expert on this but I do work with medical data and also with companies that at times have very stringent data protection requirements, like working in a kind of Faraday cage, of course without internet. Laptops have to be reinstalled, then you work and then you delete everything again.

I found that I can work very well with the offline features of Mathematica. I also have Wolfram Desktop, but only the online-file-version that comes with the Developer package, i.e. I cannot locally safe data, which might be a problem in your case. I can, however, work with Wolfram Desktop and then Select All, Copy, Paste into Mathematica 9.

Regarding your questions:

1) If it is never connected to the Internet, what functionality in Wolfram Desktop would be missing? Well, some functionality would be lost. You could not make any API requests to Wolfram Alpha. You could also not use Cloud Deploy - which you obviously do not want to use. If you have the Developer Plan you would only be allowed to save files online. There is this "dirty" workaround I mentioned above but that is not really clean. Anyway, most of the features you could wish for when analysing medical data will work perfectly fine offline. Also when you start using Wolfram Desktop you need to "login" with the internet on. Then you switch it off and Wolfram Desktop keeps working.

2) Will the Wolfram Language include the ability to interact with Microsoft .net Framework via NetLink?

No idea. I do not use that.

3) How will users of ExcelLink be affected?

Well, I can certainly import Excel files with Wolfram Desktop. Also features like Dataset work just fine. If you want to access a database it would need to be in a protected local network I guess.

I think that Wolfram Desktop would meet your requirements if you take the Producer level or higher. Alternatively, you could use Mathematica 10 when it will be released - hopefully soon.

I very much agree with you that

"I noticed new language features such as DataSet. This could be extremely useful in current projects. Can these new features be used in Mathematica?" I think that you should be able to use the features you need for medical data analysis offline with Wolfram Desktop. I think, however, that you might want to rather use Mathematica 10, when it comes out - hopefully soon. I think that that is the real offline product. For your analyses the online features will mostly not be required, I guess.

You might also be interested in this thread.

I think that you also might want to contact your local Wolfram Sales Representative. They can put you in contact with technical staff who can help with all details about how to keep data safe and comply with confidentiality clauses etc.

Cheers, Marco

POSTED BY: Marco Thiel

I am not 100% sure, but Mathematica10 will most likely have the same functionality. At the moment you might want to use Wolfram Desktop and probably take out at least the "Producer level" product:

http://www.wolfram.com/programming-cloud/pricing/

You will then get Wolfram Desktop with the option to save your files locally. If you take the developer level you get Wolfram Desktop, but the files are only saved in the Cloud. I suppose that functions such as Dataset will run locally from the Producer level upwards.

Cheers, Marco

POSTED BY: Marco Thiel
Reply to this discussion
Community posts can be styled and formatted using the Markdown syntax.
Reply Preview
Attachments
Remove
or Discard

Group Abstract Group Abstract