How to verbalise code in Mathematica?
Starting a brain dump of ideas, listening to my inner monologue. Please feel free to edit and add suggestions. Here is a list of most operators.
| sym | example | pronunciation | votes, comments, rants
|––––––|–––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––
| :: | x::y | x says y |
| # | # | slot |
| | #3 | slot 3 |
| ## | ## | all slots |
| | ##3 | all slots from third |
| & | x& | x done |
| | | x end-of-function |
| % | % | above |
| | | answer |
| | | previous |
| : | x:_ | x-pattern |
| | | anything, call it x |
| /; | x_/;y | x-pattern that y |
| | | anything that y, call it x |
| ? | x_?yQ | x-pattern that is y |
| | | anything y, call it x |
| _ | x_ | x-pattern |
| | | anything, call it x |
| _ | x_y | x-pattern of type y |
| | | anything of type y, call it x |
| __ | x__ | x-patterns |
| | | any sequence, call it x |
| ___ | x___ | x-maybepatterns |
| | | any sequence, even empty, call it x |
| _. | x_. | x-defaultpattern |
| | | anything, call it x, with default |
| : | x_:y | x-pattern defaults to y |
| | | anything, call it x, with default y |
| .. | x.. | one or more x |
| | | x-more |
| ... | x... | zero or more x |
| | | x-maybemore |
| {} | {1,2,3} | list of 1, 2, 3 |
| [[]] | x[[i]] | element i of x |
| ;; | x;;y;;z | from x to y in steps of z |
| == | x==y | x equal to y |
| != | x!=y | x not equal to y |
| === | x===y | x same as y |
| =!= | x=!=y | x not same as y |
| ++ | x++ | x and then increment it |
| | | x-before-increment |
| ++ | ++x | x but increment it first |
| | | x-after-increment |
| -- | x-- | x and then decrement it |
| | | x-before-decrement |
| -- | --x | x but decrement it first |
| | | x-after-decrement |
| [] | f[x] | f of x |
| | f[x,y] | f of x and y |
| @* | x@*y | y then x (read from right to left) |
| // | x//y | x then y |
| /* | x/*y | x then y |
| @ | f@x | f of x |
| ~ | x~f~y | f of x and y |
| /@ | f/@x | f mapped on x |
| | | f of all in x |
| //@ | f//@x | f map-alled on x |
| | | f of everything in x |
| | | f mapped on everything in x |
| @@ | f@@x | f-head on x |
| | | f applied to x |
| @@@ | f@@@x | f-head mapped on x |
| | | f applied to all in x |
| -> | x->y | x becomes y |
| | | x goes to y |
| :> | x:>y | x will become y |
| | | x will go to y |
| /. | x/.y | x where y |
| //. | x//.y | x where repeatedly y |
| = | x=y | x is y |
| := | x:=y | x will be y |
| ^= | x[y]^=z | y remembers x[y] is z |
| ^:= | x[y]^:=z | y remembers x[y] will be z |
| /: | x/:y=z | x remembers y is z |
| /: | x/:y:=z | x remembers y will be z |
| . | x=. | x is cleared |
|––––––|–––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––––
You could try using SpokenString:
SpokenString[HoldForm[x + y /. x->2]]
"x plus y slash dot x goes to 2"
Addendum
If you don't mind messing with internal functions, it is possible to customize the output of SpokenString. For this purpose, it is convenient to make use of my ExtractDownValues function reproduced below:
SetAttributes[ExtractDownValues, HoldAll]
ExtractDownValues[sym_[args__]] := ExtractDownValues[sym,args]
ExtractDownValues[sym_,args__] := Cases[
DownValues[sym],_[h_,_] /; MatchQ[Unevaluated[sym[args]],h]
]
The internal function that does most of the heavy lifting is SpokenStringDump`SSText:
TracePrint[SpokenString[HoldForm[x + y /. x -> 2]], _SpokenStringDump`SSText]
SpokenStringDump`SSText[x+y/. x->2]
SpokenStringDump`SSText[x+y]
SpokenStringDump`SSText[x]
SpokenStringDump`SSText[y]
SpokenStringDump`SSText[2]
SpokenStringDump`SSText[x->2]
SpokenStringDump`SSText[x]
SpokenStringDump`SSText[2]
"x plus y slash dot x goes to 2"
Using ExtractDownValues we find:
ExtractDownValues @ SpokenStringDump`SSText[x + y /. x -> 2]
{HoldPattern[ SpokenStringDump`SSText[SpokenStringDump`a_ /. SpokenStringDump`b_]] :> SpokenStringDump`SpeakQuantity[SpokenStringDump`a, ReplaceAll, True] ~~ " slash dot " ~~ If[ListQ[Unevaluated[SpokenStringDump`b]], SpokenStringDump`SpeakListContents[SpokenStringDump`b], SpokenStringDump`SpeakQuantity[SpokenStringDump`b, ReplaceAll, True]], HoldPattern[ SpokenStringDump`SSText[SpokenStringDump`f_[SpokenStringDump`a___]]] :> Module[{SpokenStringDump`ans = SpokenStringDump`SSText0[SpokenStringDump`f[SpokenStringDump`a]]}, If[Head[SpokenStringDump`ans] =!= SpokenStringDump`SSText0 && ! MemberQ[SpokenStringDump`ans, $Failed, {0, 1}], SpokenStringDump`ans, SpokenStringDump`SSTextFallThrough[ Unevaluated[SpokenStringDump`f[SpokenStringDump`a]]]]]}
Notice the " slash dot " string. So, modifying this downvalue to:
SpokenStringDump`SSText[a_ /. b_] := SpokenStringDump`SpeakQuantity[a,ReplaceAll,True] ~~
" where " ~~
If[ListQ[Unevaluated[b]],
SpokenStringDump`SpeakListContents[b],
SpokenStringDump`SpeakQuantity[b,ReplaceAll,True]
]
will produce:
SpokenString[HoldForm[x + y /. x->2]]
"x plus y where x goes to 2"