> I personally Python well suited to mathematical computation, > and at least the approach in Python regarding undefined variables > is consistent with every other general purpose programming > language I've ever used. But it is definitely different than Mathematica.
The problem lies in the fact that not everyone using a CAS is a programmer (though obviously that would help a lot). In the same manner, some people using other systems eventually learn how to handle it (MATLAB's symbolic package requires declaring variables). A compromise solution would be the already proposed use of an init file which includes a declaration of all single-letter variables (that would help a lot, but also would create havoc for users who don't read the manual and try to use multi-letter variables due to consistency, in the same way it would avoid problems with function names typos). That's a hard design decision in itself. Another solution would be to have an init file with that line commented out, and a remark in the tutorial and the manual explaining its usage. I believe that would be a good workaround, because whoever enables it should know what he's doing and that would not create a consistency dilemma (with the added effect of making the novice user know the great help an init file can provide). Ronan Paixão --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
