Potential FAQ / "common pitfalls" / ... material

[fingolfin]

We should have a section in the AA/Nemo/OScar manual or manuals somewhere dealing with a bunch of common questions and pitfalls. I am thinking about things like

• why is 2^100 == 0 and how to deal with it
• why are Julia and OSCAR matrices different
• why do f/3 and f//3 for a polynomial f look the same but are different (see chg: //(a::QQMPolyRingElem, b::($jT)) Nemo.jl#2164)
• ...

Of course some of them might already be answered elsewhere; in that case it's fine to give a terse answer and link to the long answer. My point is: we should have such a list in a central place so that people can read it all in one go after they did their first steps in our system(s)

CC @thofma @lgoettgens @YueRen

[YueRen]

I think this is a good idea. It won't prevent me from repeatedly walking into the same pitfalls (this is clearly a "me" problem), but I believe that having a place where

1. we acknowledge that these pitfalls exist
2. we explain why these pitfalls exist
3. (if possible) we provide some basic rules for beginners to avoid these pitfalls

would alleviate some of the frustrations when users encounter them.

[YueRen]

I think this is a good idea. It won't prevent me from repeatedly walking into the same pitfalls (this is clearly a "me" problem), but I believe that having a place where

1. we acknowledge that these pitfalls exist
2. we explain why these pitfalls exist
3. (if possible) we provide some basic rules for beginners to avoid these pitfalls

would alleviate some of the frustrations when users encounter them.

I also believe it would make our life easier when communicating to new users (because we can either point them to it or copy the explanation from it).