Subject: symbolic subscript of literal list or matrix
From: Robert Dodier
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:15:47 -0600
On 7/21/07, Stavros Macrakis <macrakis at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> > At present Maxima complains if the subscript of a literal list or matrix
> > is not an integer. E.g. a : [1, 2, 3]; a[k] => error.
> >
> > I would like to change it so that a subscript expression is returned.
> > E.g. a : [1, 2, 3]; a[k] => a[k]
>
> Why not [1,2,3][k]? I assume we are talking about evaluation here, not just
> simplification (in which case the value of a would be irrelevant).
[1, 2, 3][k] is clumsy, that's all. I realize it is somewhat of a
wart from a technical perspective, but I think the practical
utility of a[k] outweighs that. Certainly a[k] is less ugly, and
more useful, than printing an error message.
FWIW
Robert