glenn wrote:
I think you're right--to do mathematical notation, you'd need mathematical precedence and standard function notation. In addition, you'd need to use conforming operators not #*, exponents denoted by graphic position not with bogus operators such as #^, elided operators for multiplication, horizontal lines for division, tall integrals, etc. etc. etc. That would be cool.
Since Squeak now has mechanisms for enhanced source code storage, what about a kind of text emphasis that says "render this expression in standard math notation"?
Smalltalk would see (c at: i) at: j put: ((a at: i) at: j) * ((b at: j) at: i) but the user would see (properly rendered, of course)
c := a b ij ij ji
and this expression could be manipulated graphically. At least in Morphic, this would be feasible. The MVC browser would just show the Smalltalk code, perhaps with a color indication or so to give the user a hint that this is meant as a mathematical formula.
Hans-Martin