Subject: interface for numerical integration, roots etc
From: Jaime Villate
Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 11:15:13 +0100
On Wed, 2010-05-26 at 21:40 -0400, Stavros Macrakis wrote:
> Though this is interesting background, it's got to be put in the
> context of what already exists. Maxima (for better or worse) uses ':'
> for assignment, '=' for equations, and ':=' for function definitions.
>
> Some other languages do use the same symbol for assignment and named
> parameters, but that seems like a bad idea for an expression language
> like Maxima where it is perfectly sensible and useful to have an
> argument which is a literal equation or an in-line assignment.
I fully agree. That's why I don't like = or : either.
We had this same discussion a few years ago, when we talked about the
possibility of replacing the [key, value] syntax of plot commands.
To use a different symbol, in addition to the already proposed -> or =>,
I would add == which I like better than -> or =>.
Cheers,
Jaime