Runtime Environment (Maxima 5.50.0 Manual)

## 3 Runtime Environment ¶

### 3.1 Introduction for Runtime Environment ¶

`maxima-init.mac` and `maxima-init.lisp` are loaded automatically when Maxima starts. `maxima-init.mac` contains Maxima code and is loaded using `batchload`, `maxima-init.lisp` contains Lisp code and is loaded using `load`.

You can use `maxima-init.mac` (and `maxima-init.lisp`) to customize your Maxima environment. These files typically placed in the directory named by `maxima_userdir`, although it can be in any directory searched by the function `file_search`.

Here is an example `maxima-init.mac` file:

    setup_autoload ("specfun.mac", ultraspherical, assoc_legendre_p);
    showtime:all;

In this example, `setup_autoload` tells Maxima to load the specified file (`specfun.mac`) if any of the functions (`ultraspherical`, `assoc_legendre_p`) are called but not yet defined. Thus you needn’t remember to load the file before calling the functions.

The statement `showtime: all` tells Maxima to set the `showtime` variable. The `maxima-init.mac` file can contain any other assignments or other Maxima statements.

`maxima-init.mac` and `maxima-init.lisp` are loaded automatically when Maxima starts. `maxima-init.mac` contains Maxima code and is loaded using `batchload`, `maxima-init.lisp` contains Lisp code and is loaded using `load`.

`maximarc` is sourced by the maxima script at startup. It should be located in `$MAXIMA_USERDIR`. If Maxima was compiled with several Lisp compilers, `maximarc` can be used, e.g., to change the user’s default lisp implementation. E.g. to select CMUCL create a `maximarc` file containing the line: `MAXIMA_LISP=cmucl`

You can also use the command option `-l <lisp>` or `--lisp=<lisp>` to select the Lisp when starting Maxima.

If you run Maxima using the graphical interface Xmaxima, the default configuration of that interface will be saved in the file `xmaxima_default` and the history of the last 200 commands will be saved in the file `xmaxima_history` in a sub-directory maxima (or Maxima in Windows) of the user’s local configuration directory.

In Linux systems, the user’s local configuration directory is usually `/home/<username>/.config` and in Windows systems it is usually `<Drive_letter>:/Users/<username>/AppData/Local`. Notice that in both systems those directories are hidden, and their default value can be changed with an environment variable (`XDG_CONFIG_HOME` in Linux or `LOCALAPPDATA` in Windows). If the local configuration directory is not found, those two files will be saved in the users home directory and with the names `.xmaximarc` and `.xmaxima_history`, as in older versions of Xmaxima.

Categories: Session management ·

### 3.2 Interrupts ¶

The user can stop a time-consuming computation with the ^C (control-C) character. The default action is to stop the computation and print another user prompt. In this case, it is not possible to restart a stopped computation.

If the Lisp variable `*debugger-hook*` is set to `nil`, by executing

    :lisp (setq *debugger-hook* nil)

then upon receiving ^C, Maxima will enter the Lisp debugger, and the user may use the debugger to inspect the Lisp environment. The stopped computation can be restarted by entering `continue` in the Lisp debugger. The means of returning to Maxima from the Lisp debugger (other than running the computation to completion) is different for each version of Lisp.

On Unix systems, the character ^Z (control-Z) causes Maxima to stop altogether, and control is returned to the shell prompt. The `fg` command causes Maxima to resume from the point at which it was stopped.

Categories: Console interaction ·

### 3.3 Functions and Variables for Runtime Environment ¶

System variable: maxima_tempdir ¶

  `maxima_tempdir` names the directory in which Maxima creates some temporary files. In particular, temporary files for plotting are created in `maxima_tempdir`.

  The initial value of `maxima_tempdir` is the user’s home directory, if Maxima can locate it; otherwise Maxima makes a guess about a suitable directory.

  `maxima_tempdir` may be assigned a string which names a directory.

  Categories: Global variables ·

System variable: maxima_userdir ¶

  `maxima_userdir` names a directory which Maxima searches to find Maxima and Lisp files. (Maxima searches some other directories as well; `file_search_maxima` and `file_search_lisp` are the complete lists.)

  The initial value of `maxima_userdir` is a subdirectory of the user’s home directory, if Maxima can locate it; otherwise Maxima makes a guess about a suitable directory.

  `maxima_userdir` may be assigned a string which names a directory. However, assigning to `maxima_userdir` does not automatically change `file_search_maxima` and `file_search_lisp`; those variables must be changed separately.

  Categories: Global variables ·

Function: room
room ()
room (true)
room (false) ¶

  Prints out a description of the state of storage and stack management in Maxima. `room` calls the Lisp function of the same name.

  - `room ()` prints out a moderate description.
  - `room (true)` prints out a verbose description.
  - `room (false)` prints out a terse description.
  Categories: Debugging ·

Function: sstatus (keyword, item) ¶

  When keyword is the symbol `feature`, item is put on the list of system features. After `sstatus (keyword, item)` is executed, `status (feature, item)` returns `true`. If keyword is the symbol `nofeature`, item is deleted from the list of system features. This can be useful for package writers, to keep track of what features they have loaded in.

  See also status.

  Categories: Programming ·

Function: status
status (`feature`)
status (`feature`, item) ¶

  Returns information about the presence or absence of certain system-dependent features.

  - `status (feature)` returns a list of system features. These include Lisp version, operating system type, etc. The list may vary from one Lisp type to another.
  - `status (feature, item)` returns `true` if item is on the list of items returned by `status (feature)` and `false` otherwise. `status` quotes the argument item. The quote-quote operator `''` defeats quotation. A feature whose name contains a special character, such as a hyphen, must be given as a string argument. For example, `status (feature, "ansi-cl")`.

  See also sstatus.

  The variable `features` contains a list of features which apply to mathematical expressions. See `features` and `featurep` for more information.

  Categories: Programming ·

Function: system
system (command, arg_1, ..., arg_n)
system (command) ¶

  Executes command as a separate process. The command is passed to the default shell for execution.

  `system` is implemented by a command execution function in the Lisp implementation which compiled Maxima, and therefore the behavior of `system` varies with the operating system and Lisp implementation. `system` is known to work on Windows and Linux systems, and might also work on other systems.

  All combinations of Lisp implementation and operating system allow command arguments as arg_1, ..., arg_n, and some allow command arguments as part of command. SBCL on Windows and Clozure CL on Windows are known to require command arguments to be specified as arg_1, ..., arg_n.

  `system` does not attempt to quote or escape spaces or other characters in command or in arg_1, ..., arg_n; all arguments are supplied verbatim to the command execution function of the Lisp implementation.

  Standard output from command is displayed on the Maxima console by default, and may be captured by `with_stdout`.

  For most Lisp implementations, the call to `system` returns after command has completed. Job control operations, such as executing a command asynchronously with respect to Maxima, are not known to have the expected effect.

  Examples:

  `system` executes command as a separate process. The output of the command `dir` varies from one system to another.

      (%i1) system ("dir", maxima_tempdir);
      config-err-UsLLQM
      gnome-software-0TNK22
      MozillaUpdateLock-6939C585ADF59520
      snap-private-tmp
      systemd-private-169e359ab2d94b208622fa96dd88c05e-colord.service-ZP9Xn7
      (%o1)                           0

  All combinations of Lisp implementation and operating system allow command arguments as arg_1, ..., arg_n.

      (%i1) system ("echo", "Hello", "world", "glad", "to", "meet", "you");
      Hello world glad to meet you
      (%o1)                           0

  Standard output from command is displayed on the Maxima console by default, and may be captured by `with_stdout`.

      (%i1) my_output: sconcat (maxima_tempdir, "/tmp.out");
      (%o1)                     /tmp/tmp.out
      (%i2) with_stdout (my_output, system ("dir"));
      (%o2)                           0
      (%i3) S: openr (my_output);
      (%o3)               #<FILE-STREAM {7B500975}>
      (%i4) readline (S);
      (%o4)                      aclocal.m4
      (%i5) readline (S);
      (%o5)                         admin
      (%i6) readline (S);
      (%o6)                        archive

  For most Lisp implementations, the call to `system` returns after command has completed. `xfontsel` is a utility to inspect fonts for the X Windows system; `system` returns after the user clicks the "quit" button.

      (%i1) system ("xfontsel");
      (%o1)                           0

Function: time (%o1, %o2, %o3, …) ¶

  Returns a list of the times, in seconds, taken to compute the output lines `%o1`, `%o2`, `%o3`, … The time returned is Maxima’s estimate of the internal computation time, not the elapsed time. `time` can only be applied to output line variables; for any other variables, `time` returns `unknown`.

  Set `showtime: true` to make Maxima print out the computation time and elapsed time with each output line.

  Categories: Debugging ·

Function: timedate
timedate (T, tz_offset)
timedate (T)
timedate () ¶

  `timedate(T, tz_offset)` returns a string representing the time T in the time zone tz_offset. The string format is `YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.NNN[+|-]ZZ:ZZ` (using as many digits as necessary to represent the fractional part) if T has a nonzero fractional part, or `YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS[+|-]ZZ:ZZ` if its fractional part is zero.

  T measures time, in seconds, since midnight, January 1, 1900, in the GMT time zone.

  tz_offset measures the offset of the time zone, in hours, east (positive) or west (negative) of GMT. tz_offset must be an integer, rational, or float between -24 and 24, inclusive. If tz_offset is not a multiple of 1/60, it is rounded to the nearest multiple of 1/60.

  `timedate(T)` is equivalent to `timedate(T, tz_offset)` with tz_offset equal to the offset of the local time zone.

  `timedate()` is equivalent to `timedate(absolute_real_time())`. That is, it returns the current time in the local time zone.

  Example:

  `timedate` with no argument returns a string representing the current time and date.

      (%i1) d : timedate ();
      (%o1)                      2010-06-08 04:08:09+01:00
      (%i2) print ("timedate reports current time", d) $
      timedate reports current time 2010-06-08 04:08:09+01:00

  `timedate` with an argument returns a string representing the argument.

      (%i1) timedate (0);
      (%o1)                      1900-01-01 01:00:00+01:00
      (%i2) timedate (absolute_real_time () - 7*24*3600);
      (%o2)                      2010-06-01 04:19:51+01:00

  `timedate` with optional timezone offset.

      (%i1) timedate (1000000000, -9.5);
      (%o1)               1931-09-09 16:16:40-09:30

  Categories: Time and date functions ·

Function: parse_timedate
parse_timedate (S) ¶

  Parses a string S representing a date or date and time of day and returns the number of seconds since midnight, January 1, 1900 GMT. If there is a nonzero fractional part, the value returned is a rational number, otherwise, it is an integer. `parse_timedate` returns `false` if it cannot parse S according to any of the allowed formats.

  The string S must have one of the following formats, optionally followed by a timezone designation:

  - `YYYY-MM-DD[ T]hh:mm:ss[,.]nnn`
  - `YYYY-MM-DD[ T]hh:mm:ss`
  - `YYYY-MM-DD`

  where the fields are year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds, and fraction of a second, and square brackets indicate acceptable alternatives. The fraction may contain one or more digits.

  Except for the fraction of a second, each field must have exactly the number of digits indicated: four digits for the year, and two for the month, day of the month, hours, minutes, and seconds.

  A timezone designation must have one of the following forms:

  - `[+-]hh:mm`
  - `[+-]hhmm`
  - `[+-]hh`
  - `Z`

  where `hh` and `mm` indicate hours and minutes east (`+`) or west (`-`) of GMT. The timezone may be from +24 hours (inclusive) to -24 hours (inclusive).

  A literal character `Z` is equivalent to `+00:00` and its variants, indicating GMT.

  If no timezone is indicated, the time is assumed to be in the local time zone.

  Any leading or trailing whitespace (space, tab, newline, and carriage return) is ignored, but any other leading or trailing characters cause `parse_timedate` to fail and return `false`.

  See also `timedate` and absolute_real_time.

  Examples:

  Midnight, January 1, 1900, in the local time zone, in each acceptable format. The result is the number of seconds the local time zone is ahead (negative result) or behind (positive result) GMT. In this example, the local time zone is 8 hours behind GMT.

      (%i1) parse_timedate ("1900-01-01 00:00:00,000");
      (%o1)                         28800
      (%i2) parse_timedate ("1900-01-01 00:00:00.000");
      (%o2)                         28800
      (%i3) parse_timedate ("1900-01-01T00:00:00,000");
      (%o3)                         28800
      (%i4) parse_timedate ("1900-01-01T00:00:00.000");
      (%o4)                         28800
      (%i5) parse_timedate ("1900-01-01 00:00:00");
      (%o5)                         28800
      (%i6) parse_timedate ("1900-01-01T00:00:00");
      (%o6)                         28800
      (%i7) parse_timedate ("1900-01-01");
      (%o7)                         28800

  Midnight, January 1, 1900, GMT, in different indicated time zones.

      (%i1) parse_timedate ("1900-01-01 19:00:00+19:00");
      (%o1)                           0
      (%i2) parse_timedate ("1900-01-01 07:00:00+07:00");
      (%o2)                           0
      (%i3) parse_timedate ("1900-01-01 01:00:00+01:00");
      (%o3)                           0
      (%i4) parse_timedate ("1900-01-01Z");
      (%o4)                           0
      (%i5) parse_timedate ("1899-12-31 21:00:00-03:00");
      (%o5)                           0
      (%i6) parse_timedate ("1899-12-31 13:00:00-11:00");
      (%o6)                           0
      (%i7) parse_timedate ("1899-12-31 08:00:00-16:00");
      (%o7)                           0

  Categories: Time and date functions ·

Function: encode_time
encode_time (year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds, tz_offset)
encode_time (year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds) ¶

  Given a time and date specified by year, month, day, hours, minutes, and seconds, `encode_time` returns the number of seconds (possibly including a fractional part) since midnight, January 1, 1900 GMT.

  year must be an integer greater than or equal to 1899. However, 1899 is allowed only if the resulting encoded time is greater than or equal to 0.

  month must be an integer from 1 to 12, inclusive.

  day must be an integer from 1 to n, inclusive, where n is the number of days in the month specified by month.

  hours must be an integer from 0 to 23, inclusive.

  minutes must be an integer from 0 to 59, inclusive.

  seconds must be an integer, rational, or float greater than or equal to 0 and less than 60. When seconds is not an integer, `encode_time` returns a rational, such that the fractional part of the return value is equal to the fractional part of seconds. Otherwise, seconds is an integer, and the return value is likewise an integer.

  tz_offset measures the offset of the time zone, in hours, east (positive) or west (negative) of GMT. tz_offset must be an integer, rational, or float between -24 and 24, inclusive. If tz_offset is not a multiple of 1/3600, it is rounded to the nearest multiple of 1/3600.

  If tz_offset is not present, the offset of the local time zone is assumed.

  See also decode_time.

  Examples:

      (%i1) encode_time (1900, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0);
      (%o1)                           0
      (%i2) encode_time (1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0);
      (%o2)                      2208988800
      (%i3) encode_time (1970, 1, 1, 8, 30, 0, 8.5);
      (%o3)                      2208988800
      (%i4) encode_time (1969, 12, 31, 16, 0, 0, -8);
      (%o4)                      2208988800
      (%i5) encode_time (1969, 12, 31, 16, 0, 1/1000, -8);
                                2208988800001
      (%o5)                     -------------
                                    1000
      (%i6) % - 2208988800;
                                     1
      (%o6)                         ----
                                    1000

  Categories: Time and date functions ·

Function: decode_time
decode_time (T, tz_offset)
decode_time (T) ¶

  Given the number of seconds (possibly including a fractional part) since midnight, January 1, 1900 GMT, returns the date and time as represented by a list comprising the year, month, day of the month, hours, minutes, seconds, and time zone offset.

  tz_offset measures the offset of the time zone, in hours, east (positive) or west (negative) of GMT. tz_offset must be an integer, rational, or float between -24 and 24, inclusive. If tz_offset is not a multiple of 1/3600, it is rounded to the nearest multiple of 1/3600.

  If tz_offset is not present, the offset of the local time zone is assumed.

  See also encode_time.

  Examples:

      (%i1) decode_time (0, 0);
      (%o1)               [1900, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]
      (%i2) decode_time (0);
      (%o2)             [1899, 12, 31, 16, 0, 0, - 8]
      (%i3) decode_time (2208988800, 9.25);
                                                37
      (%o3)              [1970, 1, 1, 9, 15, 0, --]
                                                4
      (%i4) decode_time (2208988800);
      (%o4)             [1969, 12, 31, 16, 0, 0, - 8]
      (%i5) decode_time (2208988800 + 1729/1000, -6);
                                            1729
      (%o5)           [1969, 12, 31, 18, 0, ----, - 6]
                                            1000
      (%i6) decode_time (2208988800 + 1729/1000);
                                            1729
      (%o6)           [1969, 12, 31, 16, 0, ----, - 8]
                                            1000

  Categories: Time and date functions ·

Function: absolute_real_time () ¶

  Returns the number of seconds since midnight, January 1, 1900 GMT. The return value is an integer.

  See also `elapsed_real_time` and elapsed_run_time.

  Example:

      (%i1) absolute_real_time ();
      (%o1)                      3385045277
      (%i2) 1900 + absolute_real_time () / (365.25 * 24 * 3600);
      (%o2)                   2007.265612087104

  Categories: Time and date functions ·

Function: elapsed_real_time () ¶

  Returns the number of seconds (including fractions of a second) since Maxima was most recently started or restarted. The return value is a floating-point number.

  See also `absolute_real_time` and elapsed_run_time.

  Example:

      (%i1) elapsed_real_time ();
      (%o1)                       2.559324
      (%i2) expand ((a + b)^500)$
      (%i3) elapsed_real_time ();
      (%o3)                       7.552087

  Categories: Time and date functions ·

Function: elapsed_run_time () ¶

  Returns an estimate of the number of seconds (including fractions of a second) which Maxima has spent in computations since Maxima was most recently started or restarted. The return value is a floating-point number.

  See also `absolute_real_time` and elapsed_real_time.

  Example:

      (%i1) elapsed_run_time ();
      (%o1)                         0.04
      (%i2) expand ((a + b)^500)$
      (%i3) elapsed_run_time ();
      (%o3)                         1.26

  Categories: Time and date functions ·