Building on the concept of symbolic data description, Mathematica 6.0 introduced the major new "elements" framework for handling import and export of data, in nearly a hundred distinct formats. Mathematica 6.0 also introduced the concept of large-scale integrated data sources, for the first time allowing immediate programmatic use of many forms of real-world data.

New Import-Export Framework

Import (modified) — import data, specifying the elements to retrieve

Export (modified) — export data, constructing the output from specified elements

New Import-Export Formats »

"FLAC"  ▪  "MIDI"  ▪  "QuickTime"  ▪  "JPEG2000"  ▪  "PLY"  ▪  "JVX"  ▪  "X3D"  ▪  "Maya"  ▪  "MDB"  ▪  "ODS"  ▪  "CDF"  ▪  "USGSDEM"  ▪  "SDTS"  ▪  "ApacheLog"  ▪  "MBOX"  ▪  "Base64"  ▪  "GZIP"  ▪  ...

Rasterize — create a bitmap or other elements for graphics

FileFormat, StringFormat — infer formats from data

New Numerical Data Functions »

BinCounts  ▪  MovingAverage  ▪  Differences  ▪  FindClusters  ▪  ...

New Built-in Statistics Functions »

Commonest  ▪  MeanDeviation  ▪  Skewness  ▪  Kurtosis  ▪  ...

New Built-in Data Sources

GraphData  ▪  PolyhedronData  ▪  ChemicalData  ▪  ElementData  ▪  CountryData  ▪  CityData  ▪  FinancialData  ▪  WordData  ▪  DictionaryLookup

New Date & Time Framework »

DateString  ▪  DateList  ▪  DatePlus  ▪  DateDifference  ▪  ...