commented out parts of functs.mac. More generally, refereeing "share" or other contributions
Subject: commented out parts of functs.mac. More generally, refereeing "share" or other contributions
From: Barton Willis
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:23:43 -0500
maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu wrote on 04/28/2009 09:45:54 AM:
> Robert Dodier wrote:
> On 4/25/09, Barton Willis <willisb at unk.edu> wrote:
>
>
> package_info("functs");
>
> author: unknown,
> maintainer: unknown,
> approved by: nobody,
> revision: XXX,
> location: share/simplification,
> regression tests: none,
> last update: last Tuesday,
> ...)
>
>
> To the extent that any of this stuff is known, it's in CVS.
> I don't think it's worth the trouble of duplicating it.
>
> I disagree. I think that the author of a program should have his or
> her name IN the file. How much trouble could this possibly be?
I don't think that there is any disagreement with requiring that authors
place
their names in files. I suggested that there could be a mechanism where a
user
could extract such information from a Maxima command line. It's a (very)
low
priority idea (and not something that I would work on, I think).
Grump: Simply knowing the author doesn't always tell the user all that
much, by the way.
For example, you can read that a professor of mathematics wrote
abs_integrate. That's no
guarantee of high quality. Sure, if the code misbehaves, a user can try to
send me a note.
Barton