commented out parts of functs.mac. More generally, refereeing "share" or other contributions



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

>in?functs.mac,?the?section?on?linear?and?quadratic?has?been?commented?out.
>I?don't?know?why,?but?in?any?case?the?documentation?does?not?reflect
>that,?and?has?a?function?"linear".

A quick look at the history shows that these functions have been commented
out for a long time.

>Oddly?enough,?if?the?documentation?seems?to?say?that?linear(E,x)?always
>returns?E.

Yes and no--I uncommented the code. The function linear gathers the
coefficient of the variable:

(%i11) linear(a*x + b * x + z,x);
(%o11) z+(b+a)*x

I think facsum does the same thing.

>?It?seems?to?be?a?quite?random?collection,
including?such?low?value?and?obscure?functions?as???vers(x):=1-cos(x),

I thought the Gudermannian function was low-value and obscure too, but
somebody reported a bug in it
the other day.

>Also,?while?I?am?being?grumpy,?I?suggest?that?the?author?(1)?add
>adequate?comments,?and?(2)?put?his/her?name?on?the?file,?and?a?date.

Maybe some of this information should be available to the user---something
like

> package_info("functs");
    author: unknown,
    maintainer: unknown,
    approved by: nobody,
    revision: XXX,
    location: share/simplification,
    regression tests: none,
    last update: last Tuesday,
    ...)

Barton