> I think that better way is to use maxima commands op, args, length, > atomp >
I think that for objects which come from Maxima, this is the right thing to do. However, not all symbolic objects in Sage are wrappers for Maxima objects -- in the case of expressions using pynac, the code above actually moves them over to Maxima (via strings and pexpect) and then ask for their length there (which probably ultimately uses the commands you mention). This is less than desirable, hence my claim that it was a terrible way to calculate the length. :) I think a first step might be to introduce a __len__ method for symbolic objects, but then, I'm not always sure what it should return. For instance, what's the "length" of sin(x^2-y+3)? I could see reasonable arguments for 1 or 4, or maybe even 3. Probably the semantics should be decided by the people who actually use the symbolics a lot, which isn't me ... which is why I haven't filed a trac ticket -- I have no idea what to suggest such a method should do. -cc --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-support@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-support-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-support URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
