[Tutor] Loops and matrices'

[Steven D'Aprano]

Alan Gauld wrote:
> On 30/08/11 00:26, Emile van Sebille wrote:
> 
>>> delta_temp(i,j) = (LS_JULY_11(i,j) - LS_JULY_11(i,j-1))/TIME_STEP
>>
>> delta_temp access and assignment likely wants to be expressed with
>> brackets rather than parens.
> 
> And for those not speaking the US variant of English that'll be square 
> brackets as opposed to round brackets! ;-)
> 
> [ One of the sources of amusement to me when having my book reviewed was 
> the fact that *all* the US reviewers picked up on my use of "<shape> 
> brackets" to cover [],<>,(), {}. Apparently US usage of brackets is 
> limited to []. Something that greatly surprised me and my English, 
> Indian and South African colleagues! :-) ]

And Australians and New Zealanders too. Any Canadians want to weigh in 
with an opinion?

Brackets are anything that, er,  brackets an expression (excluding 
quotation marks), where the one on the left is different from the one on 
the right. So:

() round brackets
[] square brackets
{} curly brackets
<> angle brackets

Easier to spell than parenthesis/parentheses, but longer than 
brace/braces :)

Strictly speaking, the chevrons (angle brackets) should be ⟨⟩ rather 
than less than and greater than signs, but they're hard to type at the 
keyboard and look too similar to round brackets in small font sizes.


-- 
Steven