Robert Bradshaw wrote: > > [snip] > > I would propose that *single variable* expressions behave like > callables in one variable, there is no ambiguity as to the ordering, > so one should be able to call, integrate, differentiate, plot, etc. > with them without having to specify the variable. On trying to use a > expression with more than one indeterminate, an error should be > raised with a clear explanation the ambiguity and of how to define a > mulit-variate function. The f(x=5) syntax should still be available > as all ambiguity is resolved. > > - Robert > > > +1
I do not see any advantage in making implicit assumptions such as x is a variable but a, y or whatever isn't or that the arguments of a callable function are assigned to variables in alphabetic order. As a beginner, I fell for Fortran's implicit assumptions and it took me ages to find out that I need to put "implicit none" at the beginning of all my code. Meaningful error messages are more helpful for everyone than solving ambiguity by implicit assumptions that one has to remember in order to understand what the program does. The problem of losing beginners to other software packages only occurs if they get lost, for example if the error message does not tell them what to do in order to advance. *Or* if the program does something they don't understand because it makes a different implicit assumption than they would, but doesn't tell them. In my opinion, consistency is very easy to get used to, while the attempt to guess what different people mean will result in a hell of a lot of confusion and scare many people off. These are just my 5 cents. Stan --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
