James Amundson <amundson@users.sourceforge.net> writes:
> I like the idea of using % for a prefix.
[...]
> I therefore propose that the default inchar and outchar be set to
> %in
> and
> %out,
> respectively. Since there has been much too much discussion and too
> little action on this problem, I am going to go ahead and make this
> change
I don't think that it makes sense to boldly change the default
behaviour after thirty years or so because of anyone's taste and
habits (it has been mentioned that this would imply changing the
documentation; it would also mean typing 3 or 4 characters instead of
one), especially since it is so simple for the user to change things.
Besides, I think that it is important and more gratifying for the user
to learn how to change things. So, inspired by Emacs, I'd propose to
simply write a tutorial.dem and to mention in the Maxima banner
something like `Type demo("tutorial"); etc.' The point is that
instead of showing off Maxima's mathematical capabilities in such a
tutorial (which are taken for granted, anyway) we should help people
to get the hang of it.
Wolfgang