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WWW::WolframAlpha

zef:antononcube

WWW::WolframAlpha

MacOS Linux Win64

In brief

This Raku package provides access to the answer engine Wolfram|Alpha, [WA1, Wk1]. For more details of the Wolfram|Alpha's API usage see the documentation, [WA2].

Remark: To use the Wolfram|Alpha API one has to register and obtain an authorization key.

Installation

Package installations from both sources use zef installer (which should be bundled with the "standard" Rakudo installation file.)

To install the package from Zef ecosystem use the shell command:

zef install WWW::WolframAlpha

To install the package from the GitHub repository use the shell command:

zef install https://github.com/antononcube/Raku-WWW-WolframAlpha.git

Usage examples

Remark: When the authorization key, auth-key, is specified to be Whatever then the functions wolfam-alpha* attempt to use the env variable WOLFRAM_ALPHA_API_KEY.

The package has an universal "front-end" function wolfram-alpha for the different endpoints provided by Wolfram|Alpha Web API.

(Plaintext) results

Here is a result call:

use WWW::WolframAlpha;
wolfram-alpha-result('How many calories in 4 servings of potato salad?');

# about 720 dietary Calories

Simple (image) results

Here is a simple call (produces an image):

wolfram-alpha-simple('What is popularity of the name Larry?', format => 'md-image');

Remark: Pretty good conjectures of Larry Wall's birthday year or age can be made using the obtained graphs.

Full queries

For the so called full queries Wolfram|Alpha returns complicated data of pods in either XML or JSON format; see "Explanation of Pods".

Here we get the result of a full query and show its (complicated) data type (using "Data::TypeSystem"):

use Data::TypeSystem;

my $podRes = wolfram-alpha-query('convert 44 lbs to kilograms', output => 'json', format => 'hash');

deduce-type($podRes)

# Assoc(Atom((Str)), Assoc(Vector(Atom((Str)), 18), Tuple([Atom((Int)) => 4, Atom((Rat)) => 2, Atom((Str)) => 10, Struct([count, template, type, values, word], [Int, Str, Str, Array, Str]) => 1, Tuple([Struct([error, expressiontypes, id, numsubpods, position, scanner, subpods, title], [Bool, Hash, Str, Int, Int, Str, Array, Str]), Struct([error, expressiontypes, id, numsubpods, position, primary, scanner, subpods, title], [Bool, Hash, Str, Int, Int, Bool, Str, Array, Str]), Struct([error, expressiontypes, id, numsubpods, position, scanner, states, subpods, title], [Bool, Array, Str, Int, Int, Str, Array, Array, Str]), Struct([error, expressiontypes, id, numsubpods, position, scanner, subpods, title], [Bool, Hash, Str, Int, Int, Str, Array, Str]), Struct([error, expressiontypes, id, numsubpods, position, scanner, states, subpods, title], [Bool, Hash, Str, Int, Int, Str, Array, Array, Str]), Struct([error, expressiontypes, id, numsubpods, position, scanner, subpods, title], [Bool, Array, Str, Int, Int, Str, Array, Str])]) => 1], 18), 18), 1)

Here we convert the query result into Markdown (data-translation can be also used):

wolfram-alpha-pods-to-markdown($podRes, header-level => 4):plaintext;

Input interpretation

scanner: Identity

convert 44 lb (pounds) to kilograms

Result

scanner: Identity

19.96 kg (kilograms)

Additional conversions

scanner: Unit

3 stone 2 pounds

19958 grams

Comparison as mass

scanner: Unit

≈ 1.6 × mass of a Good Delivery gold bar ( 400 oz t )

Interpretations

scanner: Unit

mass

Corresponding quantities

scanner: Unit

Relativistic energy E from E = mc^2: | 1.794×10^18 J (joules) | 1.12×10^37 eV (electronvolts)

Weight w of a body from w = mg: | 44 lbf (pounds-force) | 1.4 slugf (slugs-force) | 196 N (newtons) | 1.957×10^7 dynes | 19958 ponds

Volume V of water from V = m/ρ_(H_2O): | 5.3 gallons | 42 pints | 20 L (liters) | 19958 cm^3 (cubic centimeters) | (assuming conventional water density ≈ 1000 kg/m^3)

Command Line Interface

Playground access

The package provides a Command Line Interface (CLI) script:

wolfram-alpha --help

# Usage:
#   wolfram-alpha [<words> ...] [--path=<Str>] [--output-format=<Str>] [-a|--auth-key=<Str>] [--timeout[=UInt]] [-f|--format=<Str>] [--method=<Str>] -- Command given as a sequence of words.
#   
#     --path=<Str>             Path, one of 'result', 'simple', or 'query'. [default: 'result']
#     --output-format=<Str>    The format in which the response is returned. [default: 'Whatever']
#     -a|--auth-key=<Str>      Authorization key (to use WolframAlpha API.) [default: 'Whatever']
#     --timeout[=UInt]         Timeout. [default: 10]
#     -f|--format=<Str>        Format of the result; one of "json", "hash", "values", or "Whatever". [default: 'Whatever']
#     --method=<Str>           Method for the HTTP POST query; one of "tiny" or "curl". [default: 'tiny']

Remark: When the authorization key argument "auth-key" is specified set to "Whatever" then wolfram-alpha attempts to use the env variable WOLFRAM_ALPHA_API_KEY.

Mermaid diagram

The following flowchart corresponds to the steps in the package function wolfram-alpha-query:

graph TD
	UI[/Some natural language text/]
	TO[/"Wolfram|Alpha<br/>Processed output"/]
	WR[[Web request]]
	WolframAlpha{{http://api.wolframalpha.com}}
	PJ[Parse JSON]
	Q{Return<br>hash?}
	MSTC[Compose query]
	MURL[[Make URL]]
	TTC[Process]
	QAK{Auth key<br>supplied?}
	EAK[["Try to find<br>WOLFRAM_ALPHA_API_KEY<br>in %*ENV"]]
	QEAF{Auth key<br>found?}
	NAK[/Cannot find auth key/]
	UI --> QAK
	QAK --> |yes|MSTC
	QAK --> |no|EAK
	EAK --> QEAF
	MSTC --> TTC
	QEAF --> |no|NAK
	QEAF --> |yes|TTC
	TTC -.-> MURL -.-> WR -.-> TTC
	WR -.-> |URL|WolframAlpha 
	WolframAlpha -.-> |JSON|WR
	TTC --> Q 
	Q --> |yes|PJ
	Q --> |no|TO
	PJ --> TO

References

[AAp1] Anton Antonov, Data::TypeSystem Raku package, (2023), GitHub/antononcube.

[WA1] Wolfram Alpha LLC, Wolfram|Alpha.

[WA2] Wolfram Alpha LLC, Web API documentation.

[Wk1] Wikipedia entry, WolframAlpha.