Python "why" questions

[Roald de Vries]

On Aug 7, 2010, at 9:14 PM, John Nagle wrote:
>   FORTRAN, MATLAB, and Octave all use 1-based subscripts.
>
>   The languages which have real multidimensional arrays, rather
> than arrays of arrays, tend to use 1-based subscripts.  That
> reflects standard practice in mathematics.

True, but that something is "standard mathematical notation" doesn't  
mean it's preferable. For example, I have never seen keyword arguments  
in mathematical notation, and it's definitely not standard practice,  
but nobody would drop them in favor of standard mathematical notation.  
In fact, I think, regularly mathematical notation can be improved by  
standard programming notation.

Moreover, I don't see what's so nice about 'real' multidimensional  
arrays; the way to construct multidimensional arrays from one- 
dimensional ones is more orthogonal. And you never *have* to think  
about them as being one-dimensional, it's just a bonus you can  
(sometimes) profit from.