[seqfan] Re: metadata for Mathematica code

[Alex Meiburg]

While I agree that it would be a bad idea to enforce any sort of standards
on Mathematica programs retroactively, it would be nice to have a standard
to encourage. Then if someone wanted, say, to go through a few of the most
common/useful sequences and convert them to the standard format, that could
be welcomed. Of course any non-conforming but still useful programs would
be accepted.


-- Alexander Meiburg

2015-11-12 8:37 GMT-08:00 Frank Adams-Watters <franktaw at netscape.net>:

> To expand on this, it was never intended that all these programs should be
> compatible without modification. It is expected that a user can rename
> variables and functions if need be. Unlike most programming environments,
> terseness is a more important virtue here than having meaningful names.
>
> Also, while a mnemonic function name for the most common sequences is easy
> enough, I would estimate that this is true for less than 1% of the
> sequences in the database. Look at how long the typical name field is.
>
> Franklin T. Adams-Watters
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Neil Sloane <njasloane at gmail.com>
> To: Sequence Fanatics Discussion list <seqfan at list.seqfan.eu>
> Sent: Thu, Nov 12, 2015 10:13 am
> Subject: [seqfan] Re: metadata for Mathematica code
>
>
> There are 166283 Mathematica programs in the OEIS as of today.
> I really don't
> think it would be a good idea to try to change them.
>
> It might be OK to make
> recommendations about the format of new
> Mma programs, but it would be a very bad
> idea to attempt to
> enforce them.
>
> Rejecting a Mma program because it does not
> fit some
> arbitrary naming convention is a No-No. Contrary to the spirit
> of the
> OEIS.
>
> Best regards
> Neil
>
> 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
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 10:20
> AM, Eric Rowland <rowland at lacim.ca> wrote:
>
> > I agree.  It might be a good
> long-term goal that all Mathematica code
> > should run in the same session
> without naming conflicts, and without
> > needing to ClearAll["Global`*"].  This
> could be solved through a
> > combination of localizing variables, standardizing
> function names, and
> > using pure functions.  It really depends on how much work
> we are willing to
> > do, and how easy we want it to be for novice users to add
> new code.
> >
> > I don't have a sense of how many people care about this, so I'm
> hesitant to
> > suggest we should rewrite all the existing code.  But if lots of
> people are
> > on board, then great, let's do it.
> >
> > Also, how much code are we
> talking about?  I don't have a local version of
> > the database, but maybe
> someone can determine how many sequences have
> > Mathematica code.
> >
> > Eric
> >
> >
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