[seqfan] Re: Maple strongly discouraged

Mon Jan 13 07:43:17 CET 2014

Well, until the next version of Maple comes out, nobody can know for sure 
whether a particular piece of code will work for that version. Is somebody 
going to test every piece of Maple code in the OEIS with each new version 
of Maple? Not I ...

Also, very few people have all existing versions of Maple available, and so 
it's going to be extremely unlikely that for any substantial number of 
Maple programs you'd be able to justify making a statement such as "Maple 5 
to 15".

Robert Israel

On Jan 12 2014, Alex M wrote:

>If there is to be a restructuring, it would be worth allowing for ranges of
>version numbers; i.e. rather than saying "Maple 14", which would leave
>people in the dark as to whether it works in Maple 10 or Maple 16, better
>to say "Maple 5 - 15", or something along the lines.
>
>I don't know how technically possible this is -- but for a lot of programs
>it would be really great if there could be whitespace in some internally
>accessible version, but a condensed version in the inline form. Like
>listing numbers vs. b-files.
>
>~6 out of 5 statisticians say that the
>number of statistics that either make
>no sense or use ridiculous timescales
>at all has dropped over 164% in the
>last 5.62474396842 years.
>
>
>On Sun, Jan 12, 2014 at 7:50 PM, Robert G. Wilson v <rgwv at rgwv.com> wrote:
>
>> I believe that Zak and I suggested version numbers well over a year ago.
>> Bob.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: SeqFan [mailto:seqfan-bounces at list.seqfan.eu] On Behalf Of Neil
>> Sloane
>> Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2014 1:45 PM
>> To: Sequence Fanatics Discussion list
>> Subject: [seqfan] Re: Maple strongly discouraged
>>
>> Yes, I wasn't really going to mention Mma by name in the warning!
>> But I was hoping my suggestion might worm its way through Maple's thick
>> skin.
>>
>> I agree that the traditional %p (for maPle) and %t (for maThematica) 
>> lines are a bit outdated, and all the programming fields could be 
>> revised. But that's a job for the future.
>>
>> I also agree that adding version numbers (e.g. Maple 15) would be a good
>> idea.
>>
>> We certainly do need to include warnings in the Help etc. pages saying 
>> that because programming languages change so quickly (especially Maple), 
>> programs should be tested before being used, and the OEIS accepts no 
>> responsibility for ... ...
>>
>> Neil
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Jan 12, 2014 at 1:31 PM, M. F. Hasler <oeis at hasler.fr> wrote:
>>
>> > Even though I made that little bit sarcastic & exaggerated remark, I
>> > don't think that Maple should be discouraged and even less that
>> > Mathematica should be preferred.
>> > It is somehow normal that a language evolves, and maple has in general
>> > quite good downward compatibility, the RETURN() function is a
>> > noticable exception. (Did never understand how they came to think
>> > about "RETURN()"!) Other languages, the (younger) PARI included, have
>> > the same or worse issues...
>> > The name of the programming language should (et least optionally)
>> > include the version, e.g. Maple V, Maple 10, PARI 2.6, PARI 2.6.1...,
>> > as I already suggested earlier (and I even put (PARI 2.6.1) instead of
>> > (PARI) in some submissions but this was not (always(?)) approved....)
>> >
>> > Even mathematics changes definitions, e.g. for the primes...
>> >
>> > I we are to make amendments in "code" sections, I'd vote for
>> > uniformization and abolish the privilege of %m and %M tags for Maple
>> > and Mmca, and/or find 1-2 more tags for the most popular progamming
>> > languages (I think PARI is no more much behind %m and %M) and/or
>> > implement a display routine that displays %o lines starting with
>> > (BASIC) or (PHP) or (PARI 2.6) or the like as <tr><td> PARI v. 2.6<td
>> > >Axxx = n -> ...</tr> instead of <tr><td> PROGRAM<td >(PARI v. 2.6)
>> > Axxx = n -> ...</tr> since the latter is less easy to copy-paste.
>> >
>> > M.
>> >
>> >
>> > On Sun, Jan 12, 2014 at 2:07 PM, Neil Sloane <njasloane at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > > Dear Seq Fans, Maximilian Hasler has pointed out that my Maple
>> > > program in A109671 (which worked correctly in Maple 16)  no longer
>> > > gives correct results in Maple 17 because it used the RETURN()
>> > > command.
>> > >
>> > > The Maple web site says
>> > >
>> > > "use of the RETURN procedure is strongly discouraged"
>> > >
>> > > and I can see why - it produces incorrect answers (without any
>> warning).
>> > Of
>> > > course I don't see WHY they did this.
>> > >
>> > > Now there over 1900 Maple lines in the OEIS that use the RETURN
>> > statement.
>> > >  Maybe these lines need a comment saying:
>> > >
>> > > # Warning: May give incorrect answers because Maple has changed the
>> > meaning
>> > > of RETURN. Suggest switching to Mathematica instead.
>> > >
>> > > (Not sure about the second part)
>> > >
>> > > I could (and probably will have to) do this with a global edit.
>> > > Is there any other solution?  It is unethical for us to include
>> > > programs that give wrong answers.
>> > >
>> > > Here's the Maple program that works correctly in Maple 16 but gives
>> > > wrong answers  in Maple 17:
>> > >
>> > > > f:=proc(n) option remember; local t1;
>> > >
>> > > > if n = 1 then RETURN(1);
>> > >
>> > > > elif n mod 2 = 0 then RETURN(f(n/2));
>> > >
>> > > > else t1:= f(n-2)-f((n-1)/2);
>> > >
>> > > > if t1 > 0 then RETURN(t1) else RETURN(f(n-2)+f((n-1)/2)); fi; fi;
>> > > > end;
>> > >
>> > > Neil
>> > > --
>> > > Dear Friends, I have now retired from AT&T. New coordinates:
>> > >
>> > > Neil J. A. Sloane, President, OEIS Foundation
>> > > 11 South Adelaide Avenue, Highland Park, NJ 08904, USA.
>> > > Also Visiting Scientist, Math. Dept., Rutgers University, Piscataway,
>> NJ.
>> > > Phone: 732 828 6098; home page: http://NeilSloane.com
>> > > Email: njasloane at gmail.com
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > >
>> > > Seqfan Mailing list - http://list.seqfan.eu/
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Maximilian
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> >
>> > Seqfan Mailing list - http://list.seqfan.eu/
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dear Friends, I have now retired from AT&T. New coordinates:
>>
>> Neil J. A. Sloane, President, OEIS Foundation
>> 11 South Adelaide Avenue, Highland Park, NJ 08904, USA.
>> Also Visiting Scientist, Math. Dept., Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ.
>> Phone: 732 828 6098; home page: http://NeilSloane.com
>> Email: njasloane at gmail.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Seqfan Mailing list - http://list.seqfan.eu/
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Seqfan Mailing list - http://list.seqfan.eu/
>>
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