On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 12:03 PM, Joel B. Mohler <j...@kiwistrawberry.us> wrote: > > On Monday 16 March 2009 02:51:30 pm Joel B. Mohler wrote: >> On Monday 16 March 2009 12:27:10 pm kcrisman wrote: >> > sage: integrate(y^2) >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >-- TypeError Traceback (most recent call >> > last) >> > TypeError: cannot coerce type '<type >> > 'sage.symbolic.expression.Expression'>' into a SymbolicExpression. >> > >> > Of course, the current error is because we haven't done the switch to >> > Pynac for everything yet. Why this would not still be valid input (to >> > echo Ronan) after the switch is mystifying to me - again, or perhaps I >> > have misinterpreted the deprecation proposal. >> >> Here's my reason for wanting it deprecated. It's fragile in the face of >> unexpected input (I don't like being lulled into a false sense that my code >> works when suddenly it wouldn't work for a constant input): >> >> sage: f=x >> sage: # many lines of code >> sage: integrate(f) >> x^2/2 >> >> sage: f=1 >> sage: # many lines of code >> sage: integrate(f) # what does this mean? >> ... hangs maxima ... >> sage: integrate(f,x) # what does this mean? >> >> Now, the fact that the "integrate(1)" hangs maxima is probably a bug all >> it's own. > > Sorry for the self reply, amend that second example to clarify my intent: > sage: f=1 > sage: # many lines of code > sage: integrate(f) # what does this mean? > ... > sage: integrate(f,x) > x > > Perhaps I should also say that I actually found the original versions of plot > outright confusing because I *didn't* have to specify the variable. > Mathematically, it's supposed to be a dummy variable so it should have to be > specified. Maybe I'm just silly and pedantic, but the fact that it > automatically "dummified" my variable confused me. I do realized that these > things can be done in a well-defined way, but the fact that the 0 variable > case was (and is) a source of bugs leads me to believe that no one really > understood this at the start and that didn't give me confidence in the > design. > > But I think the decision is already made so I apologize for the dead-horse > beating. My only motivation was to answer the question about why it's > deprecated (from my point of view, which may be totally weird).
I'm definitely OK with this discussion continuing, and I greatly appreciate your feedback! And by the way, "welcome back" to Sage, since I hadn't heard from you must on sage-devel in a while. -- William --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-devel-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
