--- Robert Dodier wrote:
> i have some ideas here although nothing to
> specifically address this problem --
>
> (1) consider
>
http://maxima.sf.net/docs/tutorial/en/minimal-maxima.pdf
> although that is mostly aimed at broader issues.
I'll take a look, thanks for the link.
>
> (2) it occurs to me that the refererence manual
> could be improved
> by a category system. what i mean is something like
> the categories
> shown here:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_sandwich_theorem
> trigrat, for example, would appear in trigonometry
> and simplification
> categories.
That could be one way to go. The way the ref manual
is organized now, with nothing but hyperlinks in the
"Function and Variable Index," is backwards, IMHO.
You would probably be better off moving all the actual
documentation into the Function and Variable Index for
easy access by veterans. For the newbies who need
categories, each "category" section would consist of a
header describing the common themes between commands
in that category, a brief description of each command,
and a hyperlink to the more verbose description in the
Function and Variable Index.
That way, you would only have duplicates of the short
descriptions (and hyperlinks) if a command falls under
multiple categories.
Consider also expanding the DESCRIBE command to show
more "See also" suggestions, like they do in MATLAB.
I can't tell you how many times I've mixed up what
certain functions do in MATLAB, especially for
graphing/plotting. But as long as I can remember the
name of a command that is "close," I can usually zoom
in on the exact command I want in one or two steps by
following a path through the "See Also" commands at
the bottom of each help page.
>
> (3) i have toyed with the notion of a function that
> would do something
> like this:
> ideas (sqrt(2)*cos(t-%pi/4)) => [trigthis,
> trigthat, trigtheother,
> ..., trigrat]
> presumably the ideas function would apply some
> heuristics to generate
> a list of relevant functions. i haven't thought this
> through so i wouldn't
> be surprised if the idea is flawed from the start.
I'll leave it to the veterans to debate that one.
Thanks,
Dan
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