Justin C. Walker wrote: > On Nov 2, 2008, at 00:01 , [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > Is it possible to avoid need to declare variables with var commands? Sage has adopted Python's evaluation policy, in which it is an error to evaluate an undefined variable. Mathematica adopted Macsyma's policy, in which it is not an error; an unbound symbol evaluates to itself. I don't know where Macsyma got that; in Lisp, at present, it's an error to evaluate an unbound variable, but maybe it was different in ancient times (1970's). Python is an interesting and useful language, but in some ways it isn't well-suited to symbolic processing. Too bad about that. > People coming from a Mathematica background should not assume that > they know all there is to know about how to use a Computer Algebra > System, and instead, read the documentation. This is so obnoxiously wrong, I just don't know where to start. (0) O.p. didn't give any indication of sweeping assumptions. (1) Few people read the documentation before using a program for the first time. It's not a problem, & developers ought to plan for it. (2) If you want people to use Sage, you might attempt to accomodate them, rather than immediately switching into the you're-a-moron mode. (3) The answer to the o.p.'s question isn't in the tutorial or reference manual. Yes, I looked. Did you? I didn't think so. FWIW Robert Dodier --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
