age of Python programmers

[Mark Jackson]

Reid Nichol <rnichol_rrc at yahoo.com> writes:
> Mark Jackson wrote:
> > Reid Nichol <rnichol_rrc at yahoo.com> writes:
> > 
> >>Gerrit Muller wrote:
> > 
> > 
> >>>and then a quantum leap towards Python.
> >>
> >>You're aware that a quantum leap means a extremely small leap, right?
> > 
> > 
> > Everything's relative - compared to the smallest possible change in the
> > classical continuum, a quantum leap is *huge*.
> > 
> 
> True, but this doesn't change the definition of the word.
> 
> from dictionary.reference.com:
> The smallest amount of a physical quantity that can exist independently, 
> especially a discrete quantity of electromagnetic radiation.

and Reid Nichol <rnichol_rrc at yahoo.com> writes elsewhere:

> Check the definition of the word.

and Reid Nichol <rnichol_rrc at yahoo.com> writes elsewhere:

> Peter Hansen wrote:

> > And at least some dictionaries give it as a synonym for "large"
> > or "significant".  (www.m-w.com for one)
> > 
> > -Peter

> Such things are only the result of a misunderstanding of the word some 
> time ago.  Even though it is wrong, it has become common use, thus the 
> incorrect definition definition(s).

from which we conclude that "check the definition" means "check the
definition in the dictionary *I* prefer". . . .

but Tim Hochberg <tim.hochberg at ieee.org> writes elsewhere:

> You might look at this, also from dictionary.reference.com:

> quantum leap

> A dramatic advance, especially in knowledge or method, as in 
> Establishing a central bank represents a quantum leap in this small 
> country's development. This term originated as quantum jump in the 
> mid-1900s in physics, where it denotes a sudden change from one energy 
> state to another within an atom. Within a decade it was transferred to 
> other advances, not necessarily sudden but very important ones.

from which we conclude that "check the definition" means "check the
definition in the dictionary *I* prefer. . .AND stop reading before it
contradicts the position I espouse."

Look, given the use of "quantum" in quantum physics it's reasonable to
expect the word to mean something small - but insisting it must do so
is flat-out wrong.  For one thing this isn't Gell-Mann appropriating a
nonsense word - "quark" - from Joyce; "quantum" was a perfectly good
English word before Planck applied it to black-body radiation.  The OED
has references going back to 1619 as a synonym for quantity.  (It even
has a use in pharmacology - "quant. suff!", famously chanted in Alfred
Bester's /The Stars My Destination/, is an abbreviation of "quantum
sufficit," roughly "as much as necessary.)

-- 
Mark Jackson - http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~mjackson
	Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it
	is the merger of state and corporate power.
				- Benito Mussolini