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Re: Have we reached the asymptotic plateau of innovation in programming la

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Hans Aberg <haberg-news@telia.com> writes:

> On 2012/03/12 06:49, glen herrmannsfeldt wrote:
>
>> As I understand it, Fortran introduced the multi-character variable
>> name, pretty much universal in programming languages, but
>> mathematicians haven't caught on yet.

Mathematicians have an implied operator between symbols.  You can't do
that with multi character names.  Not in a way that can make sense, to
me.

Operator overloading, if done incorrectly, is a maintenance nightmare so
I don't think there will ever be a language with user defined implied
operators.

  %let * be the implied operator

Then one could write

  K = a b + c^2 a k;

which would mean

  K = a * b + c^2 * a * k;

where ^ is "to the power of" and +, * the usual mathematical operators.

And while I find it easier to read the former, I doubt it'll be
universally recieved since slightly later in the program one might
encounter

  %let ^ be the implied operator

  L = c 2;

and L is suddenly c squared.


Maybe I'll try a toy language with implied operators one day.

--
   Johann Oskarsson                http://www.2ndquadrant.com/    |[]
   PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Training and Services  --+--
                                                                  |
   Blog: http://my.opera.com/myrkraverk/blog/
[It's been done. Probably before you were born. -John]

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Re: Have we reached the asymptotic plateau of innovation in programming la SLK Systems <slkpg3@gmail.com> - 2012-03-09 14:36 -0500
  Re: Have we reached the asymptotic plateau of innovation in programming la "Derek M. Jones" <derek@_NOSPAM_knosof.co.uk> - 2012-03-10 00:24 +0000
    Re: Have we reached the asymptotic plateau of innovation in programming la Hans Aberg <haberg-news@telia.com> - 2012-03-10 15:06 +0100
  Re: Have we reached the asymptotic plateau of innovation in programming la glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-03-12 05:49 +0000
    Re: Have we reached the asymptotic plateau of innovation in programming la Hans Aberg <haberg-news@telia.com> - 2012-03-13 00:10 +0100
      Re: Have we reached the asymptotic plateau of innovation in programming la Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@2ndquadrant.com> - 2012-06-07 18:15 +0000
        Re: Have we reached the asymptotic plateau of innovation in programming la Hans Aberg <haberg-news@telia.com> - 2012-06-10 01:12 +0200
  Re: Have we reached the asymptotic plateau of innovation in programming la "Jonathan Thornburg [remove -animal to reply]" <jthorn@astro.indiana-zebra.edu> - 2012-03-14 02:02 +0000

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