Compact syntax for 0-matrix?

[Boris Borcic]

Kirby Urner wrote:
> 
> I've used Numeric Python some.  However, in a teaching
> context, I don't want to hide anything from view.
> NumPy doesn't always meet my criteria in this regard,
> even though it is fast and useful.  I'm not doing
> really big matrices, and speed isn't really important.

Mmm.. I am playing along lines a bit similar to yours,
(e.g. polyhedra), and I have found Numeric quite useful
for one particular bit : doing away with the complexities
of specifying projective transforms by combinations of
rotations, translations, scalings, etc..., using rather
the 3-transitivity of the projective group, to specify
a transform by choosing 3 points together with 3 target
points to which the transform should map them. I find
this hugely more transparent (this is 2D; in 3D, i guess
you'd need 4 points).

Numeric serves to solve the corresponding linear
equations - of course, you could also code it.

Boris