Problems of Symbol Congestion in Computer Languages

[Jason Swails]

> The metric system is defined to such a ridiculous level of precision
> because we have the technology, and the need, to measure things to that
> level of precision. Standards need to be based on something which is
> universal and unchanging.
>

Other systems of measure (for instance, atomic units and the light-year) are
based on physical constants instead of the size of a stick in France.  As
long as these don't change relative to one another, these approaches are
formally equivalent.  We can't be sure that's true, though.  If that's the
case, then we can't possibly keep an unchanging system of measurement.

Not to disagree with Steven, as these arguments are irrelevant in (almost
all) current scientific research; just to pose thoughts.

Food for thought,
Jason
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/attachments/20110314/0d09f00e/attachment-0001.html>