Plus42 algebraic expressions update

[rprosperi]

(03-06-2021 04:38 PM)Vincent Weber Wrote:  Reading again this interesting discussion made me think of something: the 35S handles equations in programs not by pointing to the equation list using a name, but directly: you enter the equation in the program by pressing EQN, this puts the equation in the program as a single step, directly readable when reviewing the program. Quite convenient. A flag indicates whether this step should be treated as a mere comment (just text to be ignored) or as an actual equation to evaluate.

Now I like your solution, Thomas, of calling equations by names, just as programs. It should indeed be kept. But this is not 100% satisfactory, because (i) you don't directly see what equation this is when reviewing the program, you need to go to the equation list for that, and (ii) this equation list will be quickly polluted with small equations that should really kept private within the program they belong...

Could we imagine (probably not now, but after the parser is done) that while in program mode, going to SOLVER then selecting the equation list symbol would allow you to type directly an equation in the program, that will be treated either as a comment or an actual equation, depending on a flag ? When reviewing this step, the equation editor would be launched so that you can scroll/edit...

Very interesting suggestion!! I like it!

For me, simply letting the user pick an existing equation to insert into the current program (retaining other features as you've explained, e.g. comments) is plenty good enough; I see no need to include the ability to create/edit the equation while already in the program editor, that seems unnecessary complexity. Simply let the user step through a list of currently defined equations to select the one to insert.

An issue to consider is how to treat such an 'inserted' equation if the user chooses to delete the equation from the set of stored. Ultimately, this is no different from a normal [XEQ] "ABC" instruction when the user has removed the "ABC" program, I only bring it up here to note it for consideration when building it, assuming this makes sense in the overall scheme.

This will be a nice touch!