On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 7:46 AM, Robert Bradshaw <rober...@math.washington.edu> wrote: > On Mon, Jul 5, 2010 at 4:39 AM, Dr. David Kirkby > <david.kir...@onetel.net> wrote: >> On 07/ 5/10 06:18 AM, William Stein wrote: >>> >>> Great idea - you could add an algorithm="axiom" option to sage's >>> integrate command. >> >> Personally, and I am going to dare risk argue with a mathematician, I would >> not have considered Axion an algorithm, but a software package. So something >> like "method=use_axiom" would seem more logical to me. > > The only argument for "algorithm" is that it's a standard idiom in > Sage (though with a greatly generalized meaning).
Additional arguments: 1. In Python a "method" is a function attached to a class. Thus the word "method" is already in common use in exactly this context, and using "method=" could cause confusion. 2. In many cases in Sage, the "algorithm=" option is *clearly* used to signify a different implementation of a specific algorithm. This is common the linear algebra code, where there are multiple implementations of distinct recognizably named algorithms, and the algorithm= flag helps you switch between them. E.g., algorithm="multimodular". 3. The code implemented in Axiom defines an algorithm -- it's "the algorithm for symbolic integration as defined by the axiom implementation". Likewise for Sympy and Maxima. William -- William Stein Professor of Mathematics University of Washington http://wstein.org -- 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 URL: http://www.sagemath.org