[seqfan] Re: metadata for Mathematica code

[Alonso Del Arte]

In my opinion, the only valid reason to reject a Mathematica program is if
it fails to deliver the correct results. An editor who sees why the program
goes wrong can and should fix it, but that's less likely to happen if the
program is a confusing mess of cryptic symbols and other programming
don't's.

Brevity, meaningfulness: that's not an either-or proposition, it's more of
a continuum with trade-offs. For example, what do you name a function that
tests if a number is a palindrome?


   - palindromicNumberTestingFunction
   - palindromicQ
   - palQ
   - pQ
   - fQ
   - p
   - f
   - y


On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 12:24 PM, Alex Meiburg <timeroot.alex at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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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-- 
Alonso del Arte
Author at SmashWords.com
<https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AlonsoDelarte>
Musician at ReverbNation.com <http://www.reverbnation.com/alonsodelarte>