Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!news.albasani.net!newsfeed.freenet.ag!news2.euro.net!newsgate.cistron.nl!newsgate.news.xs4all.nl!post.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail
Sender: "John O'Hagan" <johnmohagan@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2012 12:25:59 +1000
From: John O'Hagan <research@johnohagan.com>
To: python-list@python.org
Subject: Re: code review
In-Reply-To: <CAPTjJmp7mpUg+spdv5HMX+8yD42koM7Ks+KRMbL9ooV6EY-QRg@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.1623.1340939177.4697.python-list@python.org> <6c39594f-79cb-4d4f-967e-bbc3f68cdbdf@f8g2000pbf.googlegroups.com> <4fed59b7$0$29978$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <mailman.1631.1340982202.4697.python-list@python.org> <EaAHr.369967$of1.132220@fx06.am4> <mailman.1651.1341052165.4697.python-list@python.org> <2662370.TGmo96CKe1@PointedEars.de> <mailman.1658.1341085147.4697.python-list@python.org> <VlJHr.500117$jl.112442@fx19.am4> <mailman.1659.1341089444.4697.python-list@python.org> <87wr2oecf6.fsf@dpt-info.u-strasbg.fr> <4FEF7117.7000109@jollybox.de> <jsns6l$7c0$1@dough.gmane.org> <mailman.1663.1341093928.4697.python-list@python.org> <4fefb0ad$0$29988$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <43f27741-bd1b-4c15-9822-c196b8b0396e@x39g2000yqx.googlegroups.com> <mailman.1714.1341248151.4697.python-list@python.org> <4ff24384$0$29988$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <CAPTjJmp7mpUg+spdv5HMX+8yD42koM7Ks+KRMbL9ooV6EY-QRg@mail.gmail.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Precedence: list
Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
Message-ID: <mailman.1728.1341282369.4697.python-list@python.org>
Lines: 40
NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:888:2000:d::a6
Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:24801

On Tue, 3 Jul 2012 11:22:55 +1000
Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 10:57 AM, Steven D'Aprano
> <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> wrote:
> 
> > Perhaps the world would be better off if mathematicians threw out the
> > existing precedence rules and replaced them with a strict left-to-right
> > precedence. (Personally, I doubt it.)
> >
> > But until they do, consistency with mathematics is far more important
> > than the foolish consistency of left-to-right precedence.
> 
> And if they ever do, it'll break consistency with past centuries of
> mathematical writing. Imagine (taking this to another realm) that it's
> decided that since Wolfram is now called Tungsten, it should have the
> chemical symbol 'T' instead of 'W'. This is far more consistent,
> right? And Iron should be I, not Fe. We'll move Iodine to Io (and
> Europium to Europa and Gallium to Ganymede?), and tritium (the isotope
> of hydrogen) can become H3. It'd make today's chemistry notes look as
> archaic and unreadable as those using alchemical symbols, only the
> actual symbols are the same, making it ambiguous. Nope. Better to
> stick with what's standardized.
> 

I agree to some extent, but as a counter-example, when I was a child there
a subject called "Weights and Measures" which is now redundant because of the
Metric system. I don't miss hogsheads and fathoms at all. 

Music is another field which could do with a "metrification": I get tired of
explaining to beginners why there's no B#, except when it's C. Check out
http://musicnotation.org

If legacy systems get too far out of sync with current practice, they become
an unnecessary layer of complexity and a hurdle to understanding, and at some
point you have to take the plunge, old books be damned.

--

John