I have a dataset list of points, representing location x,y and one for depth z. 

x:=[...]
y:=[...]
z:=[...]

What command is best for plotting a 3d surface out of those points?

Is there a general template to follow for extracting scientific data from a website? 

I have some data in some text files I want to read in with maple. 

The problem is with the format of the data ... 

Really not sure why this isn't included in Maples differentiation process.

In any case I was searching for mapleprimes links on this subject to no avail, although I know they exist I cannot locate them.  In any case if a were some function how do I, for example, diff(sin(x)*x^2,sin(x))?

Anyone else experience this same issue?

If you type ?real

it causes a maple error box to pop up

Kernel Connection Lost
*Kernel connection has been lost.
You should save this worksheet and restart Maple.
Executing commands in Maple requires a connection to the Maple kernel.
Firewalls have been known to cause problems with kernel connections in
Maple. Please ensure that any firewall software is configured to allow
Maple to create connections to the kernel. Consult the FAQ for more
information.