From: Yigal Weinstein <yigal.weinstein at gmail.com>
Is the file extension .mac the only extension for Maxima? I ask because
if it is isn't it time to change .mac -> .max ? Anyone downloading who
can read realizes that Maxima came from a program Macsyma, but Maxima
has evolved into its own creation and should have its own file
extension - no? I thought a rather superficial question would make my
life a little fun. Are there problems with some of the legacy code not
be free so .mac is needed for this stuff or what?
Before adopting new extensions it would be good to google "file
extension" and check out a few of the many sites with extensive lists
of known file extensions. The few I checked do not associate mac with
Macsyma, but of course, the days of Macsyma having high profile
predate the Web.
Both mac and max have multiple other associations. Take your pick
what you want to step on. Of course, the requirement that File
Extensions Must Be Exactly Three Characters is long outdated, so you
might also consider using "maxima".
I suspect that little of the software associated with Maxima uses file
extension associations for the traditional purpose of displaying cute
icons, and for launching maxima when a file is clicked, so
associations are less important than for other application files. But
one might want to add the desired extension to Emacs alist of default
buffer modes. See the variable auto-mode-alist in elisp.