Re: Mathematica frustrations...
- To: mathgroup@smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg11730] Re: Mathematica frustrations...
- From: Selwyn Hollis <shollis@peachnet.campus.mci.net>
- Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 03:08:58 -0500
- References: <6cgf9k$sd7@smc.vnet.net> <6d0ah6$2jt@smc.vnet.net> <6esgci$5mf@smc.vnet.net> <199803222313.QAA12069@mars.Colorado.EDU>
> <snip> > >The use of % and In[]/Out[] references is sometimes convenient but is > >very bad programming practice in general. IMHO, students should be > >strongly discouraged from using them at all. Naming results leads to > >much more efficient and coherent work. > > > >I'm not sure what you mean when you say ``% saves one the aggravation of > >re-evaluating a cell." It's the other way around. % _causes_ the > >aggravation of having to re-evaluate cells. > > > > Plus the rules (?) of % are fuzzy. For example, > > s=Solve[x^2==4,x]; xx=x/.s; > > is unambiguous, but > > Solve[x^2==4,x]; xx=x/.%; > > does not produce the expected result. Since % is (i) fuzzy, > (ii) raises the potential for bugs, and (iii) takes up a special > symbol, my vote is for permanent elimination. Good riddance. I don't think ``fuzzy" is the right word for it, Carlos. Whatever... But speaking of wasting a good special symbol, if Wolfram hadn't decided to use the dollar sign $ to begin global/internal symbols, we could all be typing expressions into Mathematica the same way we type them in TeX/LaTeX! ... maybe. :-/ How about this for Version 4.0: globals/internals begin with % instead of $, and $ replaces cntrl-( and cntrl-) for beginning and ending "math mode" (as in TeX). What the hell, why not just use TeX syntax? I doubt that Professor Knuth would mind. And it would sure make a lot of Mathematica users' lives a lot simpler! -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Selwyn Hollis Associate Professor of Mathematics Armstrong Atlantic State University Savannah, GA 31419 USA <http://www.math.armstrong.edu/faculty/hollis/> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~