Some universities pay for a Mathematica site license. I have used the software since version 6. It&#x27;s really good for prototyping (my whole MSc was done in Mathematica), but the <i>biggest</i> problem for me is that code re-use is a total mess.<p>It&#x27;s easier to teach someone to write some Python and use a Git GUI than it is to teach a new student (who is not a programmer) how to properly use Mathematica with version control. Notebooks are, by design, made to be interactive and promote an incremental, playful discovery process. That is intuitive and students pick it up very quickly.<p>This means that code is passed around as (in my experience) bloated, poorly written, poorly documented and inefficient (no FP, all imperative) notebooks containing multiple &quot;orphan&quot; sections which were just quick hacks to try and see if something worked. Of course you <i>can</i> learn to write packages and good documentation which integrates flawlessly in the documentation center, but that takes time and effort most scientists would not be willing to give.