Matlab vs Python (was RE: Discussion: Introducing new operators f
bjorn at roguewave.com.bbs
bjorn at roguewave.com.bbs
Mon Jul 17 15:10:05 EDT 2000
Huaiyu Zhu wrote:
[snip]
> As to the claim that additional operators for linear algebra is somehow
> comparable to the special syntaxes/quirks of various programming languages,
> no real argument has been presented so far. It's more like: If I don't care
> and don't use such things, they must belong to a special domain and be
> somehow comparable to some other things that I do know and dislike.
On the contrary. The argument is something like the following:
- Python is a general purpose language, and as such it can't
support special case syntax for Matrix/cgi/xml/db programming.
(special syntax has previously been requested for both cgi and
db programming).
- The proposal is to add a handful of operators that would only
have meaning in this one domain.
- the criteria for addition to the core is something that is
generally useful for a large segment of the community.
(and it's your job to convince us of it, not ours to
convince you that it isn't -- many more people would like
to see Stackless in the core, but that's not going to happen
anytime soon either...)
- that many problems can be reduced to matrix operations is
a non-argument, since the same is true of functional/
procedural/oo/predicate programming.
- There are allready ways of performing the required tasks in
Python, so there is no absolute need to add this to the core.
- Other straight forward solutions has been proposed including
list comprehensions and Moshe Zadka's elementwise class
approach.
> On the other hand, alternative arguments based on analysis of functionality,
> overall design, history of evolution and possible future extension, etc,
> would carry some real persuasive weight.
If you really want to convince people, I would like to see examples of
how adding these operators would make working in other domains easier
(directly, not through translation through linear algebra).
-- bjorn
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