[Numpy-discussion] Possible new multiplication operators for Python

[Gael Varoquaux]

On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 11:10:11AM -0700, Fernando Perez wrote:
> > LR: It would be great to use unicode math operators.
> > On this issue, Fortress is being foresightful.
> > Accepting the "times" symbol would be a fairly small move
> > for most users, since it is in the Latin 1 extension of
> > ASCII.

> I'll be sure to list this as part of the received feedback.  I'm
> personally not too crazy about unicode operators (at least not to the
> extent that Fortress went, where basically a special IDE would be
> required to write the code in any reasonable scenario).  But I'm
> willing to change my mind, and I'm *definitely* acting as scribe here,
> so everything that is presented will be reported back.

I am very much against unicode operators. I can see a huge amount of
problems this will generate, for little gain. There are still some
possibilities to use a plain ascii character (I can think of '^', '/',
'$', '!', althought each one of these might lead to confusion, and they
have a feeling of perl). Could we also go for multiple cahracter
operators? Anybody care for '.*'?

Gaël