The Wolfram site is associated with Wolfram's well-known Mathematica, but it is not necessary to have the software to explore the demonstrations. Instead, visitors can download a free Mathematica player. I explored a number of the music demonstrations since I have a special interest in synthesizers and electronic music composition; the Jazz Voicings, Piano Keys, and MidiKeyboard Limits demonstrations were instructive and impressive. All demonstrations include access to the source code.
The Wolfram site is a good example of a resource site that combines a free service with advertising for a product; they provide free mathematical demonstrations (for teachers and students of mathematics, and for hobbyists) while advertising software that can be purchased by institutions that choose to purchase the full Mathematica package. ____JH (Thanks to Helge Scherlund's eLearning News for this initial information about this site.)
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"Conceived by Mathematica creator and scientist Stephen Wolfram as a way to bring computational exploration to the widest possible audience, The Wolfram Demonstrations Project is an open-code resource that uses dynamic computation to illuminate concepts in science, technology, mathematics, art, finance, and a remarkable range of other fields.
Its daily-growing collection of interactive illustrations is created by Mathematica users from around the world, who participate by contributing innovative Demonstrations.
Interactive computational resources have typically been scattered across the web--requiring specialized programming knowledge that's made them difficult and expensive to develop. As a result, their coverage has long been limited, and progress has been slow.
In many ways, The Wolfram Demonstrations Project introduces a new paradigm for exploring ideas. The power to easily create interactive visualizations, once in the domain of computing experts alone, is now in the hands of every Mathematica user.
Demonstrations can be created with just a few short lines of readable code, powered by the revolutionary advances in Mathematica. This opens the door for researchers, educators, students, and professionals at any level to create their own sophisticated mini-applications and publish them online."
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