You would like to prepare a batch file starting with an existing
session. In general, I hesitate to suggest to new Maxima users to RTFM
(Read The F***ing/Fine Manual), because the manual is not particularly
Fine. But in this case, the manual and the online documentation are
pretty clear.
The documentation for "batch" says:
BATCH files may be created using a text editor or by use
of the STRINGOUT command.
While the documentation for "writefile" says:
Such a file is a transcript of the session, and is not
reloadable or batchable into MACSYMA again.
The documentation for "stringout" says:
Such files are then used by the BATCH or DEMO commands....
The Ai are usually C labels or may be INPUT meaning
the value of all C labels.
Stringout(<<filename>>,input) (that is the literal symbol "input") will
output all your c-lines to the file in a batchable format. You call
this command *after* you have entered the commands (it is not a
"dribble"-type functionality). This means that it is not useful for
recording sessions that lead to a dead Maxima (crash).
Though this may not be the ideal way to put together a batchfile, it
does have its uses. One limitation is if there are any errors in the
batchfile, the batch operation will stop, and can't be restarted.
Another limitation is that if the batch file uses explicit D-labels, in
order to batch it in again, you must do
(kill(labels),batch(<<filename>>))
Note that the kill(labels) command must be in the SAME statement as the
batch command, otherwise the batchfile will not start with C1/D1.
-s