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Support #181

Functions throwing error even though (trivially) defined

Added by Anna Maria Bigatti about 12 years ago. Updated over 2 years ago.

Status:
New
Priority:
Low
Assignee:
-
Category:
Manual/documentation
Target version:
CoCoA-5.4.2
Start date:
08 Jun 2012
Due date:
% Done:

10%

Estimated time:
Spent time:
0.45 h

Description

we should make a catalogue of cases where we choose (for safety of the user) to throw an error even though there is a well-defined mathematical (but meaningless) result.

If we should make one, what form should it have?

These are the cases considered up to now (update it here)
  • gcd in a field; IsTrueGCDDomain rejects fields
  • ExtGcd now gives error on input (0,0)
  • IsHomog when GradingDim is 0
  • IsPrime expects its arg to be positive
  • IsDivisible throws when 2nd arg is a zero-divisor

Related issues

Related to CoCoALib - Bug #178: IsHomog: should it throw an error when there is no grading?Closed2012-06-07

Related to CoCoALib - Feature #165: FractionField -- only of TrueGCDDomain?Closed2012-05-21

History

#1 Updated by Anna Maria Bigatti about 10 years ago

  • Target version set to CoCoA-5.1.0 Easter14

#2 Updated by John Abbott about 10 years ago

  • Target version changed from CoCoA-5.1.0 Easter14 to CoCoA-5.1.1 Seoul14

#3 Updated by John Abbott almost 10 years ago

  • Target version changed from CoCoA-5.1.1 Seoul14 to CoCoA-5.1.2 summer 2015

#4 Updated by John Abbott almost 9 years ago

  • Target version changed from CoCoA-5.1.2 summer 2015 to CoCoA-5.1.3/4 Jan 2016

What exactly does this issue propose? To add an entry to the online CoCoA-5 documentation? Is there a similar entry in the CoCoALib documentation? Should there be?

The manual entry for each separate function should state its limitations, so if we create a new manual entry gathering together all "limitations" the information there would duplicate information which is (should be!) already in the manual.

If we do make this new manual entry, what should its title be? And what are the associated keywords? Should manual entries for functions with limitations include a "see also" reference to the page listing all limitations?

#5 Updated by John Abbott almost 9 years ago

  • Priority changed from Normal to Low

#6 Updated by John Abbott over 8 years ago

  • Target version changed from CoCoA-5.1.3/4 Jan 2016 to CoCoA-5.2.0 spring 2017

If we do make such a manual page, a possible keyword could be "surprises" :-)

I'm still undecided whether it is good idea or not.

Anyway, this issue won't be resolved immediately so postponing to the next version.

#7 Updated by John Abbott over 7 years ago

  • Target version changed from CoCoA-5.2.0 spring 2017 to CoCoA-5.2.2

Another postponement. It is probably nice for a user to find in a single place a summary of the main quirks/foibles of CoCoA(Lib). It will require discipline to keep it aligned with the main documentation.

Other possible keywords: quirk, foible, strange, strangeness

#8 Updated by John Abbott over 6 years ago

  • Target version changed from CoCoA-5.2.2 to CoCoA-5.2.4

#9 Updated by John Abbott almost 6 years ago

  • Target version changed from CoCoA-5.2.4 to CoCoA-5.3.0

#10 Updated by John Abbott over 4 years ago

  • Target version changed from CoCoA-5.3.0 to CoCoA-5.4.0

#11 Updated by John Abbott over 2 years ago

  • Target version changed from CoCoA-5.4.0 to CoCoA-5.4.2

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