Python and Flaming Thunder
Mensanator
mensanator at aol.com
Thu May 22 12:56:41 EDT 2008
On May 22, 10:30 am, Nick Craig-Wood <n... at craig-wood.com> wrote:
> Dave Parker <davepar... at flamingthunder.com> wrote:
> > But after getting input from children and teachers, etc, it started
> > feeling right.
>
> > For example, consider the two statements:
>
> > x = 8
> > x = 10
>
> > The reaction from most math teachers (and kids) was "one of those is
> > wrong because x can't equal 2 different things at the same time".
>
> This is a common feature in functional languages...
>
> Eg
>
> Erlang (BEAM) emulator version 5.6.2 [source] [smp:2]
> [async-threads:0] [kernel-poll:false]
>
> Eshell V5.6.2 (abort with ^G)
> 1> X = 8.
> 8
> 2> X = 10.
> ** exception error: no match of right hand side value 10
> 3>
>
> That error message is the erlang interpreter saying "Hey I know X is
> 8, and you've said it is 10 - that can't be right", which is pretty
> much what math teachers say too...
Are you saying that erlang treats 1> as an assignment, yet
treats 2> as a comparison?
That's inconsistent. No wonder nobody uses erlang.
Why isn't erlang smart, like Python, and avoid such confusion?
IDLE 1.2
>>> X = 2**3 # assignment
>>> X == 8 # comparison
True
>>> X == 10
False
>>>
>
> --
> Nick Craig-Wood <n... at craig-wood.com> --http://www.craig-wood.com/nick
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