If I, for example, enter
? cos
I get
0: acos :(maxima.info)Definitions for Trigonometric.
1: acosh :Definitions for Trigonometric.
2: cos :Definitions for Trigonometric.
3: cosh :Definitions for Trigonometric.
4: cosnpiflag :Definitions for Fourier Series.
5: fourcos :Definitions for Fourier Series.
6: fourintcos :Definitions for Fourier Series.
Enter space-separated numbers, `all' or `none':
Now this is not particularly useful as a learning tool: note that
0,1,2,3 say the same thing, as do 4,5,6. How hard would it be to
replace the "Definitions for Trigonometric" (say) with a short one
line description of the function? So that:
0: acos :(maxima.info)Inverse cosine function.
1: acosh :Inverse hyperbolic cosine (cosh) function.
2: cos :Cosine function.
3: cosh :Hyperbolic cosine function.
4: cosnpiflag :See "foursimp".
5: fourcos :Fourier cosine series coefficients.
6: fourintcos :Fourier cosine integral series coefficients.
Enter space-separated numbers, `all' or `none':
Would this sort of thing require the re-writing of a vast amount of
lisp or maxima code? Or wuold it be relatively easy to implement?
Actually my favorite help system is that of Matlab, where the help
text is embedded in the function file itself. So
lookfor cos
gives you a list of functions which include the string "cos", with
short descriptions (generally the first line of the help text), and
help cos
gives you all the help.
I'm approaching this issue from the perspective of an educator: what
sort of help will make a system easiest for me to learn it, and
easiest for my students?
-Alasdair