Subject: "Delayed" problem in mfunction/mmacro definition
From: Siver Andrey
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 22:58:17 +0300
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Fateman" <fateman at cs>
To: "Siver Andrey" <siver@sirius.ihep.su>
Cc: "Maxima-List" <maxima@math.utexas.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 7:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Maxima] "Delayed" problem in mfunction/mmacro definition
> I think Albert Reiner gave a pretty good answer, but
> the underlying question "How does one do evaluation the
> way Mathematica does, using Maxima?" is very suspicious.
>
> 1. Mathematica has a rather different model of evaluation
> from anything else. I would guess that 99% of Mathematica
> users understand only a small part of it. Fortunately,
> that is sufficient for most users.
>
> 2. Mathematica's evaluation model involves pattern matching,
> non-deterministic rules that supposedly prevent infinite
> evaluation, but are secret.
>
> 3. A detailed examination involving Hold, Evaluate, Delay, etc etc
> in Mathematica suggests it is a really bad model.
Why is it bad? How it could be represented or explained?
> If you want to use Maxima, I suggest you learn about the evaluation
> model in Maxima, NOT by comparison with Mathematica.
And how could I learn about the evaluation model in Maxima?
Thanks for Your answers and help.
Andrey S.