If i understand well the structure of Maxima, it is essentially a lisp
interpreter with a layer that translates the syntax to the user interface,
and a big set of predefined functions.
In that situation, it seems that it wouldn't be difficult to compile a .mac
file into an executable one (since it is internally a lisp program). It would
improve dramatically it's speed, which could be usefull for very long
calculations.
Is there any implemented feature like this? If not, i suggest it to be
considered for future versions (actually, it could make a huge difference
between MAxima and other CAS; many users would switch to Maxima just because
of this).
Miguel Angel Marco Buzunariz
Departamento de matemáticas
Universidad de Zaragoza