Stavros,
> Robert, it is not clear what your proposal is.
> Which name do you want to eliminate?
In each of
(-) ratcoeff = ratcoef
(-) ratnum = ratnumer
(-) binom = 'binomial
(-) prod = product
(-) bothcoeff = bothcoef
I want to cut the one on the left-hand side.
> I've always hated the inconsistent and misspelled names like "ratcoef"
> (there is a 'coeff', but no 'coef'), and have also always found it confusing
> that there are alternate names at all. Unfortunately, it is the misspelled
> names that Maxima treats as basic. I would vote for renaming ratcoef to
> ratcoeff.
It is OK with me to rename ratcoef to ratcoeff and
bothcoef to bothcoeff.
> I'm not sure why you include true=?t (and not false=?nil) in the list. "?"
> names are internal and the user shouldn't care about them.
Well, the names in question are all in a list in src/suprv1.lisp.
So I wrote down all the names in the list.
I wanted to forestall someone looking at the file and saying,
"Hey, there are 2 more you didn't mention."
> Diff and derivative are a particularly bad case, because
> derivative is the nounform of diff. Again, something I've
> always found confusing and counterintuitive.
> The reason for this is, I would guess (RJF, can you
> confirm?) that diff/derivative were invented before the
> noun/verb scheme.
> I'm not sure what you mean by "embedded in the code"
> -- I'd think a global replace could take care of this easily.
Well, I'm not opposed to renaming $derivative to %diff
or something. But that is certainly more work than just
cutting the alias.
best,
Robert