Discussion: new operators for numerical computation

[Huaiyu Zhu]

On Thu, 20 Jul 2000 11:49:01 -0400, Paul Magwene <paul.magwene at yale.edu> wrote:
>Konrad Hinsen wrote:
>> 
>> But there are other alternatives. How about operators in parentheses?
>> a (*) b looks fine to me, and it is currently illegal so it can't cause
>> compatibility problems. I'd even claim that it somewhat *looks* like
>> a matrix operation.
>
>Of all the proposals so far, I find Konrad's suggestion to be the most
>appealing.
>I could definitely get used to the following:
>
>A(*)B
>A(/)B
>A(+.*)B
>...etc

There is one reason this will not be accepted eventually.  The parathesis
suggests the possibility of a calculas of operators within them, when, in
fact, operators are hardcoded in the C program.  John Lull had given a clear
explanation why this is so.

To give the impression of unlimited supply of operators while not so
would cause quite a bit of confusion, imho.

Besides, this might indeed fit the "it's like perl" criticisim for this
special zone within parathesis. <0.5wink>

-- 
Huaiyu Zhu                       hzhu at users.sourceforge.net
Matrix for Python Project        http://MatPy.sourceforge.net