Re: [Maxima] problem calling MAXIMA function at lisp level

> The voices of reason... who wanted both cases, yielded to the
> traditionalists of the DEC PDP-10 Lisps who wanted to map all
> typed in characters to upper case.

I don't think it's that simple, and calling one side "the voices of
reason" prejudges the issue....  There are good arguments on both sides.

On the side of mixed-case, it's certainly useful to distinguish
mathematical variable "t" from mathematical variable "T", and there are
many programming communities which use capitals to distinguish words
within names, e.g. "SplitSum" or "fWord" (Hungarian notation).

Against mixed-case, these are not techniques used in traditional
mathematical or natural language spelling, and I suspect they are
error-prone: I know I always have to check whether some particular
system uses "onclick" or "onClick", because conventions vary.  And
surely "onClicK" is more likely a typo than a useful distinction?  This
sort of typo is especially insidious in Maxima, where undefined names
aren't errors.

I lean towards considering variation in spelling non-significant, but
preserving it nonetheless (like the Windows file system -- no snickering
please).  The system could either give a warning/error when a
non-standard spelling is used, or simply use the canonical form.  When a
separator is needed within a name, why not use "_" (on_click)?

Others' thoughts?

       -s