Re: [Axiom-developer] Documentation bug?

[root]

> > > Maybe I should have been a bit more precise. I actually already knew 
> > > what )abbrev is for. I just forgot the syntax.
> > > 
> > > As you see the first message tells me:
> > > 
> > >    Issue )abbrev? for more information.
> > > 
> > > And if I do that I get a not so helpful message. That was the bug I was 
> > > referring to.
> > 
> > visit src/doc/msgs/s2-us.msgs
> > 
> > this file contains most (not all, unfortunately) of the messages issued by
> > axiom.
> 
> The problem is not with the error message issued, but with the routine that
> issues it: 
> 
> )xx
> 
> will give
> 
> Your argument list is not valid.
> 
> for any nonsensical value of xx. Except if xx is an ambiguous abbrevation, for
> example
> 
> )c
> 
> returns 
> 
>    Your command is ambiguous. The following are abbreviated by c :
>       cd 
>       clear 
>       close 
>       compiler 
>       copyright 
>       credits 
> 
> or if parameters are missing (:-(
> 
> )abb
>    If the system command or synonym abbreviations exists, help 
>       information is not available for it. Issue )what commands or 
>       )what synonyms to determine is abbreviations is a valid name.

ok. i'll try again. perhaps my message was ambiguous or unclear. :-)

this is open source. complaints are interesting but change only happens
if someone writes the change. i'm unlikely to do it for three reasons.
first, i'm pursuing a couple multi-month efforts so i don't have the time.
second, i don't find the error message a problem and
third, some of the errors don't happen to me.

> Since I modify spad code quite a lot, I know this message well.

great, what is the cause? it doesn't happen to me so i can't fix it.

if it doesn't need a fix then it needs documentation. where is the
patch to the axiom documentation volumes?

> Not really. There is a bunch of .input files in the distribution and you could
> check whether you find any examples that apply. However, there is --
> unfortunately -- no automatic regression testing yet. Big minus for Axiom.

great, where is the patch? there is a mechanism that will help with
regression testing. use

   )set message testing on

and when an error occurs you'll get the string:

 "Daly Bug"

in the output (turn it on, type 1+, and watch the output). axiom used
to have regression testing but it died when NAG took over the code. it
is on my list to bring it back but there are other things that also 
need work. (it has my name in the message because i needed a unique
string that would not occur in algebra output and i was the one in
charge of regression testing while it was at IBM, so being lazy i
hardcoded my name).

all of you can program and you have the source. so RUDAP....
read, understand, document, and patch. and then harass me to make
sure it gets added.

a well documented, carefully thought out patch that can be applied
against the latest version of the arch code is much more likely to
effect change.

i'm willing to help but YOU have to code changes YOU care about.

(torvolds wrote a similar message to the linux mailing list and i
thought he was being arrogant at the time but now i realize he was
just very busy)

t