[Numpy-discussion] ?

[Mark Jackson]

Konrad Hinsen <hinsen at cnrs-orleans.fr> writes:
> boncelet at udel.edu@SMTP at python.org writes:

> > But (donning my contrarian hat), while appealing to newcomers
> > is a laudable goal, Python will die if it does not appeal to serious
> > programmers writing serious code.  The CS world is littered with
> > dead teaching languages (anyone remember PLC?).  IMHO, the
> > right question to ask is "what do serious programmers want?"
> 
> Making the bold claim to be a serious programmer, I'd say they want to
> be able to specify either integer or float division, but they don't
> care about the precise syntax, as long as both are straightforward to
> do.

Absolutely.  I come from a Fortran background and have no trouble at
all with 3/2 yielding 1.  The problem is that code seldom looks like
this:

	a = 3/2

Instead it looks like this:

	a = b/c

and I have yet to find an algorithm for which "b/c yields integer if b
and c are both integers, else float" is actually appropriate behavior!
Particularly in my usual application domain (Python as an interactive
steering and scripting language for Fortran and C modules) preventing
inadvertent arrival of integers at such expressions is a major PITA.
Give us div, or (better) //, for integer division.  The purists can
then overload it for their class-of-rationals.

-- 
Mark Jackson - http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~mjackson
	I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.
				- Wilson Mizner