--- Raymond Toy <raymond.toy@ericsson.com> wrote:
>
> Since we're making some pretty drastic changes with the case
> sensitivity changes now, what other drastic changes are allowed?
Originally I think Jim's idea was to just fix case issues for this
release? Looks like that might be more non-trivial than first
estimates indicated though, so perhaps the 5.9.2 release could do more
stuff than originally planned? IMHO all the things you're talking
about should be done either in now or after a quick 5.9.2 release
cycle.
> Some things I'd like to see, not necessarily now:
>
> o Trash old code like stuff for pdp-11, TI explorer, etc.
Yep. Also, while we're at it redefining stuff, I vote we get all cuss
words out of the source code ASAP. If they're in comments get rid of
them, if they're in code (which I saw at least one case of) rename
stuff in the code to something less immature.
> o Comment out (or remove completely?) multiple definitions of the
> same function. Then see what breaks and then fix it.
> o Same with macros.
That definitely needs doing.
> o Rename all the special vars from <var> to *<var>* when possible.
> Of course, some of these are visible to maxima, so we don't want to
> rename those, but these are all of the form $<name>, so that's ok.
> I find it very confusing that special vars aren't denoted in some
> better way in the code. I certainly can never remember which
> variables are special, and some of the variables have particularly
> annoying names like "y", so you might get really bizarre results in
> some cases if your lisp code uses y, thinking it is lexical.
Yes, I agree there too.
> All of these changes (except the first) have major implications, and
> could break all kinds of code, but I think the benefits will be worth
> it.
It's like a fitness program - the first parts hurt, but its worth it in
the end. :-).
CY
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