--- a/main/symbolic/inst/poly2sym.m	Sat May 23 13:31:03 2009 +0000
+++ b/main/symbolic/inst/poly2sym.m	Sat May 23 13:32:29 2009 +0000
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 ## @deftypefn {Function File} {} @var{p} = poly2sym (@var{c}, @var{x})
 ## Creates a symbolic polynomial expression @var{p} with coefficients @var{c}.
 ## If @var{p} is not specified, the free variable is set to sym("x"). @var{c}
-## may be a vector or a list/cell-array of symbols. @var{x} may be a symbolic
+## may be a vector or a cell-array of symbols. @var{x} may be a symbolic
 ## expression or a string.
 ## The coefficients correspond to decreasing exponent of the free variable.
 ##
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 ## symbols
 ## x=sym("x"); y=sym("y");
 ## p = poly2sym ([2,5,-3]);         # p = 2*x^2+5*x-3
-## c = poly2sym (list(2*y,5,-3),x); # p = 2*y*x^2+5*x-3
+## c = poly2sym ({2*y,5,-3},x); # p = 2*y*x^2+5*x-3
 ## @end example
 ##
 ## @end deftypefn
@@ -45,9 +45,9 @@
 
 N = length(c);
 
-if !iscell(c) & !islist(c)
+if !iscell(c)
 	tmp = c;
-	c = list;
+	c = cell;
 	for i=1:N
 		c(i) = tmp(i);
 	endfor

--- a/main/symbolic/inst/sym2poly.m	Sat May 23 13:31:03 2009 +0000
+++ b/main/symbolic/inst/sym2poly.m	Sat May 23 13:32:29 2009 +0000
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 ## as a vector. If there is only one free variable in @var{p} the
 ## coefficient vector @var{c} is a plain numeric vector. If there is more
 ## than one free variable in @var{p}, a second argument @var{x} specifies the
-## free variable and the function returns a list of symbolic expressions.
+## free variable and the function returns a cell vector of symbolic expressions.
 ## The coefficients correspond to decreasing exponent of the free variable.
 ##
 ## Example:
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 ## symbols
 ## x=sym("x"); y=sym("y");
 ## c = sym2poly (x^2+3*x-4);    # c = [1,3,-4]
-## c = sym2poly (x^2+y*x,x);    # c = list(2,y,0)
+## c = sym2poly (x^2+y*x,x);    # c = {2,y,0}
 ## @end example
 ##
 ## If @var{p} is not a polynomial the result has no warranty.
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@
 p = expand(p);
 p_terms = sumterms(p);
 # if this is well behaved, I can find the coefficients by dividing with x
-c_ex = list;
+c_ex = cell;
 for i=1:length(p_terms)
 	tmp = p_terms{i};
 	for j=1:BADPOLY_COEFF_LIMIT
@@ -146,10 +146,10 @@
 	c = c_ex;
 endif
 
-% test examples
+%!shared
+% symbols
+% x=sym("x"); y=sym("y");
 %!test
-%! symbols
-%! x=sym("x"); y=sym("y");
-%! c = sym2poly (x^2+3*x-4);
-%! assert(c, [1,3,-4]);
-
+% assert(sym2poly (x^2+3*x-4), [1,3,-4]);
+%!test
+% assert (sym2poly (x^2+y*x,x), {2,y,0})

--- a/main/symbolic/inst/symfsolve.m	Sat May 23 13:31:03 2009 +0000
+++ b/main/symbolic/inst/symfsolve.m	Sat May 23 13:32:29 2009 +0000
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 ## @end example
 ##
 ## The system of equations to solve for can be given as separate arguments or
-## as a single list/cell-array:
+## as a single cell-array:
 ##
 ## @example
 ## a = symfsolve(@{f,g@},@{y==1,x==2@});  # here y=a(1), x=a(2)
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
 ##
 ## If the variables are not specified explicitly with the initial conditions,
 ## they are placed in alphabetic order. The system of equations can be comma-
-## separated or given in a list or cell-array. The return-values are those of
+## separated or given in a cell-array. The return-values are those of
 ## fsolve; @var{x} holds the found roots.
 ## @end deftypefn
 ## @seealso{fsolve}
@@ -65,12 +65,12 @@
 function [ x,inf,msg ] = symfsolve (varargin)
 
 	#separate variables and equations
-	eqns = list;
-	vars = list;
+	eqns = cell();
+	vars = cell();
 
-	if iscell(varargin{1}) | islist(varargin{1})
+	if iscell(varargin{1})
 		if !strcmp(typeinfo(varargin{1}{1}),"ex")
-			error("First argument must be (a cell-array/list of) symbolic expressions.")
+			error("First argument must be (a cell-array of) symbolic expressions.")
 		endif
 		eqns = varargin{1};
 		arg_count = 1;
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
 		arg_count = 0;
 		for i=1:nargin
 			tmp = disp(varargin{i});
-			if( iscell(varargin{i}) | islist(varargin{i}) | ...
+			if( iscell(varargin{i}) | ...
 					all(isalnum(tmp) | tmp=="_" | tmp==",") | ...
 					!strcmp(typeinfo(varargin{i}),"ex") )
 				break;
@@ -129,8 +129,8 @@
 		if nvars!=nevars
 			error("The number of initial conditions does not match the number of free variables.")
 		endif
-		if iscell(varargin{arg_count+1}) | islist(varargin{arg_count+1})
-			# List/cell-array of relations - this should work for a list of strings ("x==3") too.
+		if iscell(varargin{arg_count+1})
+			# cell-array of relations - this should work for a list of strings ("x==3") too.
 			for i=1:nvars
 				tmp = disp(varargin{arg_count+1}{i});
 				vars = append(vars,sym(strtok(tmp,"==")));