["Robert Dodier" <robert.dodier at gmail.com>, Sat, 8 Jul 2006 10:45:40 -0600]:
> I don't see a motivation for the (-) items except convenience
> (ratnum = ratnumer, binom = 'binomial, prod = product)
> or to compensate for an easily-mistaken name
> (ratcoeff = ratcoef, bothcoeff = bothcoef).
I wonder: what is the cost of keeping the aliases? I suspect it is
extremely small (presumably something like (define-symbol-macro
$ratcoeff $ratcoef)). If so, I think they should be kept:
- There may be user code that relies on some of the aliases. This is
particularly so for the cases where the documented form (...coef)
seems less natural than the alias (...coeff).
- Convenience is hardly something to forego without a reason.
Maybe it is sufficient to cut them from the documentation, and to move
their definition into one place?
Best regards,
Albert.