Not sure exactly what Robert had in mind here, but....
Maxima lists like [a,b,c] support both first(x) and x[1].
Maxima arrays do not support first(x), but do support x[1]. This is because
in general Maxima arrays do not have an unambiguous meaning for 'first'. If
I assign x[cos(x)]:1 and x[sin(x)]:-1, what would first(x) be?
As for defining things, as you say, f(x):= is for function definitions.
f[x]:= is for defining memoizing functions, where the body is not
re-evaluated every time the function is called -- nothing really to do with
matrices. Thus:
a:0$
f(x) := (a: a + x)$
f(2) => 2
f(2) => 4
f(3) => 7
f[x] := (a: a + x)$
f[2] => 9
f[2] => 9 <<<<<<<<<<<< remembers calculated value
f[3] => 12
f[3] => 12 <<<<<<<<<<<<
On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 17:02, carolus <worwor at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> On 6/17/2011 11:15 AM, Robert Dodier wrote:
>
> (Yes, it is unclear and confusing to try to distinguish
>> between programming functions and symbolic functions.
>> Sorry about that.)
>>
>> What is the difference? I've noticed "f(x) :=" for function definition
> and "f[x] :=" for initializing matrices. Is that what you are talking
> about?
>
>
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