Thanks for the reply. To make sure I did the examples again
>
> ....
>
>> w:x;
>> x[4]:5;
>> x:[1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1];
>> w[4];
>>
>> This is tricky! Now we still get 5. So maxima seems to prefer
>> the array property of x above its value which is a list.
>>
>
> No, the value of x is a list. X has no array property.
>
But we do get 5!
:lisp (describe '$x);
$X - internal symbol in MAXIMA package
value:
((MLIST SIMP) 1 1 1 1 1 1)
property MPROPS:
(NIL HASHAR #:G32536) <======
> The notation
>
>> w:x;
>> x:[1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1];
>> w[4];
>>
>> Now x has no array property so its value is inspected. We get 1.
>>
>> x[4]:5;
>> x:[1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1];
>> x[4];
>>
>> We get 5. Maxima prefers again the array property.
>>
>
> No, the value of x is a list.
>
>
>
But we do get 5!
:lisp (describe '$x)
$X - internal symbol in MAXIMA package
value:
((MLIST SIMP) 1 1 1 1 1 1)
property MPROPS:
(NIL HASHAR #:G32537) <=====
Michel