ANN: PyStream - a C++ stream emulation

[Alex Martelli]

"Gareth McCaughan" <Gareth.McCaughan at pobox.com> wrote in message
news:slrn8qe18l.gd7.Gareth.McCaughan at g.local...
> Roy Katz wrote:
>
> > Einstein said 'things should be made as simple as possible -- but not
> > simpler'.  Sir William [of] Occam gave us the Razor. (I think William
was
> > his first name).
>
> It was, but he wasn't "Sir".

He would probably have hotly refused any attempt at bestowing a
title upon him, given that he was a hot-headed radical Franciscan.

Got excommunicated (with Bonagrazia da Bergamo and Michele da
Cesena) on the issue of Christ's poverty, fled to the protection of
the also-excommunicated emperor Louis the Bavarian, wrote
flaming treatises defending the right of kings to tax the Church,
and generally stirred trouble. (Readers of Eco's "Name of the
Rose" are well acquainted with the general political climate of
those troubled times; Eco's protagonist is deliberately modeled
on Ockham, with a touch of Sherlock to be sure).

Btw, the English spelling was Ockham; I'm not sure how the
simplified 'Occam' spelling came up -- presumably some French,
Italian, or other continental, found those consonants too hard:-).

The "Principle of Economy", which today we call "Ockham's
Razor", was well-established by the 14th century; it came from
Dominican roots.  Ockham apparently gained the honor of
having it linked with his name by making use of it with his
usual uncompromising extremism.  He denied the existence,
among other things, of causation; of motion; of ideas; each
of which items he attacked with the "principle of economy".


Alex