OT: excellent book on information theory

[Steve Holden]

Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:12:24 +0200, Juho Schultz wrote:
> 
> 
>>Because the intended audience is probably reads formulas better than
>>they read Python. The 1st sentence of the Introduction: "This book is 
>>aimed at senior undergraduates and graduate students in Engineering, 
>>Science, Mathematics and Computing".
>>
>>Last month I spent about an hour trying to explain why
>>a*2.5e-8 = x
>>raises a SyntaxError and why it should be written
>>x = a*2.5e-8
>>The guy who wrote the 1st line has MSc in Physics from Cambridge (UK).
>>In mathematics, there is no difference between the two lines.
> 
> 
> An hour???
> 
> No disrespect intended, but either you are really bad at explaining, or he
> is really bad at listening. Thinking of some of the MSc's I've known,
> especially those from Oxbridge, I'm guessing the second.
> 
> "The interpreter does not have human intelligence, and requires a fixed
> format. Equals sign does not represent equality, it represents
> assignment, and the left hand side of the assignment must be a name, end
> of story. Yes, it sucks that you can't write Python code in mathematics,
> just like it sucks that you can't write English in French or Lisp in C.
> Get over it."
> 
> 
... and if that fails, try repeated application of the clue stick until 
enlightenment or unconsciousness ensues.

regards
  Steve
-- 
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