Ten days playing with Maple has proven that skills in one system don't necessarily translate to another. I have encountered a number of frustrations which are not so much a problem with Maple as my inability to match the subtleties of the new system. Some of the issues I have encountered:

• periodic locking up of the interface in document mode (this may be due to something I am doing wrong)
• getting used to the maple syntax and command list (it is further than the syntax of Mathematica than I originally suspected yet similar enough to completely mess me up)
• occasional odd state like behavior (which is, again, probably due to my ignorance than a problem with Maple)

I discovered a tool that attempts to convert my old Mathematica worksheets to Maple. I thought this was a boon at first but I discovered that it did little except import changes that were cosmetic. I still had to rewrite the code and expressions.

I discovered that Maple's way of coding patterns into functions (to create some overloading and default behavior) is very different than Mathematica. I'll figure this out later.

I have had some inconsistent behavior with functions like subs and solve. The first time I invoke the command it behaves one way but when I invoke the command a second time (after some minor changes) it doesn't seem to want to work the same way. For example:
subs( a=1, b=2, y=b*x+a );
works as expected the first time making substitutions. yielding:
y=2*x+1
but when I apply some constraints to a, and b:
assume( a::realcons );
for example and I attempt to re-run the subs command. I get:
y=a*x+1
clearly a has been redefined but I don't understand how. (Or rather I do, but I don't understand why the system imposes a name change when a constraint is attached to a label)

The documentation is largely organized in the online help guides. While it is extremely modular it is also a little too compact and difficult to use a reference for a newbie. I need to find some kind of an instructional tool between the "getting started" guide and the online reference.

I am getting better at the Maple syntax.