> I assure you that very few people will run demo("tutorial").
Agreed.
It also seems perverse to have a default that we expect *new* users (as
opposed to experienced users) to have to change. Users do not come to
Maxima to learn how to customize, but to get mathematical work done.
Once they discover it is useful for their mathematical work, only then
will they be willing to invest more effort in learning things like
customization.
> In my experience, I almost never type something like c5.
> Except maybe ''c5 to do f(x):=''c5.
Agreed.
> I frequently type an old label like d5. If we allow %5 to be
> a shorthand for %out5, that might be ok. or %[5] or running
> from the current line, % is previous, %% pre-previous, %%% etc.
I think %5 is OK, but %[5] is not, since (a) it already has a clear
compositional meaning -- take the 5th element of the value of %; (b)
that is a common and useful thing to do (selecting one solution to an
equation). Anyway, % or %in or %i (my favorite) is a trivial change to
Maxima, and %[5] or %in[5] is not.
-s