Discussion: new operators for numerical computation

[Travis Oliphant]

> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Proposal two, which for lack of a better name I'll call Konrad's proposal:
> 
> New Operators: (+), (-), (/), (*)[outer], (.)[dot], (|)[solve], (^)[power] 
> 
> NumPy and MatPy would have that same syntax: the new operators correspond to
> matrix operations in both MatPy and matrix operators in NumPy.
> 

> Given these two basic proposals, I strongly prefer Konrad's. I think
> the syntax is more evocative of matrix operations. From the tone of
> other post on this syntax, this syntax seems to be accepted, perhaps
> even prefered, by most most people. I also am strongly a proponent of
> the syntax of various Numeric packages being a similar as possible. In
> this case NumPy and MatPy.
> 

I strongly prefer this syntax as well for any new operators, for the same
basic reasons.  

We could use (!) for solve and (**) for power (actually I'm not as
convinced that we NEED a solve.  But...) .  This might assuage some
purists in python-dev.  I think it's useful to keep in mind tht we are
not just attracting Matlab users, but IDL, PyWave, J, and other's as well.

-Travis