Proposed new syntax

[Glenn Linderman]

On 8/12/2017 9:12 AM, MRAB wrote:
> On 2017-08-12 09:54, Marko Rauhamaa wrote:
>> Jussi Piitulainen <jussi.piitulainen at helsinki.fi>:
>>
>>> Rustom Mody writes:
>>>> [ My conjecture: The word ‘comprehension’ used this way in English is
>>>> meaningless and is probably an infelicious translation of something
>>>> which makes sense in German]
>>>
>>> From a Latin word for "taking together", through Middle French,
>>
>> Metaphors' galore:
>>
>>     English: understand < stand under something
>
> Its etymology is here:
>
> http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=understand
>
>>     French:  comprendre < take something in
>>     German:  verstehen  < stand in front of something
>>     Finnish: ymmärtää   < surround something
>>
>> all mean the same thing.
>>
I really don't think that "comprehension" in English, in the manner used 
for Python set manipulation, is equivalent at all to the English word 
"understand". For the Python comprehension, the word is more related to 
"complete", or "exhaustive", as in "comprehensive" (covering all 
possibilities). While a comprehensive explanation of something might 
lead to an understanding of that something, teaching is not really a 
requirement of being comprehensive. Being comprehensive is sometimes a 
good attribute of teaching, or understanding, however. One might think 
they understand something, but they only understand in part, they might 
not have a comprehensive understanding. An example of this is Newtonian 
physics gives an understanding of various physical phenomena, but 
Einstein's theory of relativity shows that Newtonian physics is only a 
partial understanding, not a comprehensive one. And maybe someday 
there'll be a theory that demonstrates that relativity is only a partial 
understanding as well (someone chime in if that is already true!).

Glenn