how to pass the name of a variable as argument?

-----maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu wrote: -----

>The maxima translate function also kind of points the way too, since the
>translated code sprinkles special declarations all over to make the
>variables all special.  Removing those would give us lexical behavior,
>but only for translated code.  I would think something similar could be
>done with the interpreter.
>
>Ray

I've had this though too---if we had a reliable Maxima to CL
translator we could translate all inputs into CL. If the translator
was flexible and easy to modify, we could have lexical behavior too.
And we would banish the differences between interpreted and translated
Maxima.

Of course that's not the only way to give Maxima lexical behavior.
Like most projects, I'd guess that 90% of such a translator would be
easy to write.

Barton