Re: [Maxima-discuss] Semantics of var in makelist etc. WAS ... How do I translate the "ev"...

[Robert D. <rob...@gm...>]

On Tue, Oct 15, 2024 at 11:29 AM Stavros Macrakis <mac...@gm...> wrote:

> I don't think "can be explained" is the right design criterion. I would much rather have "does not need to be explained, because it has exactly the same semantics as similar constructs".

Yeah, generally agreed. This is perhaps what is addressed by the
conventional "principle of least surprise", or, as I like to call it,
the "principle of maximum consistency" -- just what you were saying
about "does not need to be explained, because it has exactly the same
semantics as similar constructs".

It is perhaps a sign of how much I have absorbed the obtuse and
intricate design flaws of Maxima over the past decades, that I was
saying "this example is easily explained". Easily, if one is
sufficiently enlightened, as they said back in the old days.

I am intrigued by the possibility of prohibiting non-mapatoms from ev
temporary assignments -- I might try to make an experimental version
and see how that changes calls to makelist in the test suite.

best

Robert