operator for equations, was: Re: [Maxima] Plot options foo=bar vs [foo, bar]



Am 11 Jun 2006 um 18:07 hat Robert Dodier geschrieben:

Hello Robert,
> 
> > To express something like  "x runs from a to b" or "x is
> > element of the interval [a;b]" one should not use an '='.
> 
> OK, I agree on this point.
> 
> How about plo2d (expr, range(x) = interval(a, b)) ? I think I like this one.

In this case the usage of '=' is ok for me, but in this notation one has to type in too much 
characters. Compared to [x,a,b] it's three times more. 

I think, we should keep the plot commands as short as possible. In contrary to gnuplot itself 
all the preambles have to be packed into one single plot command. This is a great source of 
typing errors. 
[ Typical plot command:
plot2d( f(x), [x,a,b], [gnuplot_preamble,"set grid; set size ratio -1"] );
That's long enough. ]

> Other ideas -- plot2d (expr, x in interval(a, b)) ?
> or plot2d (expr, x element_of interval(a, b)) ?
> or plot2d (expr, x within interval(a, b)) ?
> or plot2d (expr, a < x and x < b) ?

My favourite is [x,a,b]. Maybe I am old fashioned in this case. 
Maybe, after looking for a lot of alternatives it turns out, that we already have the best. 

Volker