Re: [Maxima-discuss] additional display flags for matrix, determinant, and box expressions

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

On Sun, Oct 12, 2025 at 3:16 PM Eduardo Ochs <edu...@gm...> wrote:

> Works here! Very neat!

Great, glad to hear it.

> I don't see a way to put a matrix without brackets inside a matrix
> with brackets.

The display flags affect all expressions being displayed, so all
matrices are displayed the same, all boxes displayed the same, all
determinants the same too. So the only way (short of reorganizing the
code) to get one expression displayed with one set of display flags
and another displayed with a different set is to define different
operators. This isn't a very satisfactory solution because any new
operators won't have the same properties (algebraic and otherwise) as
the existing built-in operators.

As an example one could define mymatrix1 and mymatrix2 and set up
display functions so they're displayed differently. But then they
won't be treated the same as existing matrix expressions in algebraic
functions.

One could, I guess, put display flags in the expression car, although
I'm not too crazy about the idea. It's not the most terrible idea in
the world, although I don't want to undertake it, and anyway I'm on
the fence as to whether it's a good idea or not.

Robert