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Matlab vs Python (was RE: Discussion: Introducing new operators for matrix computation)

Paul Prescod paul at prescod.net
Mon Jul 17 15:12:02 EDT 2000 
Huaiyu Zhu wrote:
> 
> ...
> 
> As to the claim that additional operators for linear algebra is somehow
> comparable to the special syntaxes/quirks of various programming languages,
> no real argument has been presented so far.  

Okay, then, let me try.

> It's more like: If I don't care
> and don't use such things, they must belong to a special domain and be
> somehow comparable to some other things that I do know and dislike.

Let me rephrase: "If MOST Python programmers don't care and don't use
such things, they must belong to a special domain." I think that's a
good operative definition of "domain specific". That's the crux of the
argument. Don't throw complex numbers back in my face because they
required *minimal new syntax*. There is already more "extra" syntax in
the language for matrices than for complex numbers.

I don't know why you have the impression that matrix operators have
been compared to anything that people dislike. Most people have compared
them to things that they *do* like, but must do through function syntax
because Python doesn't pander to my particular needs or your particular
needs, but rather those of most average programmers. I like XML 
processing and I daresay there are more books sold on it than on 
Matlab. But I've never asked for special, XML-specific syntax.

Maybe you should consider how to scale back your syntactic request.
Perhaps a single keyword or symbol at the beginning of an expression
could make it element-wise or matrix-wise.
-- 
 Paul Prescod - Not encumbered by corporate consensus
It's difficult to extract sense from strings, but they're the only
communication coin we can count on. 
	- http://www.cs.yale.edu/~perlis-alan/quotes.html
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