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Groups > comp.lang.python > #69508

Re: unicode as valid naming symbols

References (10 earlier) <533A768F.5080102@rece.vub.ac.be> <mailman.8790.1396344274.18130.python-list@python.org> <87txadtmwq.fsf@elektro.pacujo.net> <mailman.8791.1396346325.18130.python-list@python.org> <87ob0ltfze.fsf@elektro.pacujo.net>
Date 2014-04-01 23:54 +1100
Subject Re: unicode as valid naming symbols
From Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com>
Newsgroups comp.lang.python
Message-ID <mailman.8797.1396356845.18130.python-list@python.org> (permalink)

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On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 11:02 PM, Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> wrote:
> ========================================================================
> #include<stdio.h>
>
> int main()
> {
>    int n, i = 3, count, c;
>
>    printf("Enter the number of prime numbers required\n");
>    scanf("%d",&n);
>
>    if ( n >= 1 )
>    {
>       printf("First %d prime numbers are :\n",n);
>       printf("2\n");
>    }
>
>    for ( count = 2 ; count <= n ;  )
>    {
>       for ( c = 2 ; c <= i - 1 ; c++ )
>       {
>          if ( i%c == 0 )
>             break;
>       }
>       if ( c == i )
>       {
>          printf("%d\n",i);
>          count++;
>       }
>       i++;
>    }
>
>    return 0;
> }
> ========================================================================
> (<URL: http://www.programmingsimplified.com/c/source-code/
> c-program-for-prime-number>)

Here's my tweaked version of that:

========================================================================
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
   int i = 3, count, factor;

   printf("Enter the number of prime numbers required\n");
   scanf("%d",&count);

   if ( count >= 1 )
   {
      printf("First %d prime numbers are:\n",count);
      printf("2\n");
   }

   while (count > 1)
   {
      /* This is a pretty stupid algorithm */
      for ( factor = 2 ; factor <= i - 1 ; factor++ )
         if ( i%factor == 0 ) break;
      if ( factor == i )
      {
         printf("%d\n",i);
         count--;
      }
      i++;
   }

   return 0;
}
========================================================================

Doesn't change the parenthesis count (other than that I dropped an
unnecessary pair of braces; some people would prefer to keep them, but
I find they're quite superfluous), but improves readability. (Why use
a for loop when you could use a simple while?) As to the question of
whether this is more or less readable than the Scheme version... I
guess that partly depends on the reader's relative familiarity with C
and Scheme, but it's crystal clear to me what the C version is doing -
and that it's doing something stupid. I don't find it more readable to
cast something as recursive; compare these two tight loops:

          (let find-divisor ((c 2))
            (cond
             ((= c i)
              (format #t "~S\n" i)
              (display-primes (1+ count) (1+ i)))
             ((= (remainder i c) 0)
              (display-primes count (1+ i)))
             (else
              (find-divisor (1+ c)))))))))

      for ( factor = 2 ; factor <= i - 1 ; factor++ )
         if ( i%factor == 0 ) break;
      if ( factor == i )
      {
         printf("%d\n",i);
         count--;
      }

In the first one, you start doing something, and if you don't have a
termination point, you recurse - which means you have to name this
loop as a function. In the second, you simply iterate, and then at the
end, decide whether you have the termination condition or not. It's
easy to see what the loop condition is; it's easy to see that it will
always end by one or other termination rule, and then it acts based on
that. Actually, if you switch the conditions, it would look a bit more
like the Scheme version:

      for ( factor = 2 ; i%factor ; factor++ )
      {
        if ( factor == i )
        {
           printf("%d\n",i);
           count--;
           break;
        }
      }

I wouldn't say this makes the code notably more readable, and it
doesn't change the parenthesis count (apart from making more people
want to put the outer braces in - they're still technically optional,
and that was only an optional reduction in the first place), but it's
a closer equivalent and that might make comparison easier.

My view is definitely that the C version is WAY more readable than the
Scheme one.

ChrisA

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Thread

unicode as valid naming symbols Mark H Harris <harrismh777@gmail.com> - 2014-03-25 13:30 -0500
  Re: unicode as valid naming symbols wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-03-25 11:52 -0700
    Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Mark H Harris <harrismh777@gmail.com> - 2014-03-25 14:24 -0500
    Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-03-25 19:16 -0700
  Re: unicode as valid naming symbols MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2014-03-25 19:24 +0000
    Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Mark H Harris <harrismh777@gmail.com> - 2014-03-25 14:29 -0500
      Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-03-25 21:48 +0200
        Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Skip Montanaro <skip@pobox.com> - 2014-03-25 14:54 -0500
        Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au> - 2014-03-26 09:16 +1100
      Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-03-25 13:49 -0600
      Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2014-03-25 15:29 -0500
      Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2014-03-25 15:47 -0700
      Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-03-25 23:58 +0000
        Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Mark H Harris <harrismh777@gmail.com> - 2014-03-27 10:28 -0500
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-03-27 08:51 -0700
            Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Mark H Harris <harrismh777@gmail.com> - 2014-03-27 11:03 -0500
              Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-03-28 12:45 +1300
            Re: unicode as valid naming symbols MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2014-03-27 17:17 +0000
              Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-03-27 10:53 -0700
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-03-27 10:22 -0600
            Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-03-27 10:41 -0700
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-28 03:23 +1100
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Antoon Pardon <antoon.pardon@rece.vub.ac.be> - 2014-03-31 11:55 +0200
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-03-31 11:40 -0600
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2014-03-31 13:02 -0500
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-03-31 12:10 -0600
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Antoon Pardon <antoon.pardon@rece.vub.ac.be> - 2014-03-31 21:31 +0200
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2014-03-31 16:12 -0400
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2014-03-31 16:15 -0400
            Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-03-31 23:34 +0300
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-03-31 18:47 -0600
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols David Hutto <dwightdhutto@gmail.com> - 2014-03-31 23:58 -0400
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols David Hutto <dwightdhutto@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 00:11 -0400
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Antoon Pardon <antoon.pardon@rece.vub.ac.be> - 2014-04-01 10:19 +0200
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 03:18 -0600
            Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-04-01 12:32 +0300
              Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 03:58 -0600
                Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-04-01 15:02 +0300
                Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 23:54 +1100
                Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-04-01 16:16 +0300
                Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-04-02 00:32 +1100
                Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-04-01 18:59 +0300
                Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 19:58 -0700
                Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 20:16 -0700
                Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-04-02 08:55 +0300
              Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 21:39 +1100
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Antoon Pardon <antoon.pardon@rece.vub.ac.be> - 2014-04-01 12:37 +0200
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 21:58 +1100
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Antoon Pardon <antoon.pardon@rece.vub.ac.be> - 2014-04-01 13:59 +0200
            Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2014-04-01 08:29 -0400
              Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-04-02 00:08 +1100
                Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 06:34 -0700
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-04-02 00:00 +1100
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2014-04-01 09:33 -0400
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-04-02 00:44 +1100
            Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 06:58 -0700
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-04-01 09:53 -0600
      Re: unicode as valid naming symbols MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2014-03-26 02:56 +0000
      Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-26 14:09 +1100
      Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Antoon Pardon <antoon.pardon@rece.vub.ac.be> - 2014-03-26 09:25 +0100
      Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Antoon Pardon <antoon.pardon@rece.vub.ac.be> - 2014-03-26 09:52 +0100
      Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-03-26 10:37 -0600
      Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Antoon Pardon <antoon.pardon@rece.vub.ac.be> - 2014-03-27 10:36 +0100
        Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-03-27 08:10 -0700
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2014-03-27 10:34 -0500
          Re: unicode as valid naming symbols random832@fastmail.us - 2014-03-28 14:55 -0400
            Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-03-28 22:00 -0700
              Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-29 16:12 +1100
              Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-03-29 16:32 +1100
              Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2014-03-29 14:11 -0400
              Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-03-30 09:01 +1100
                Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2014-03-30 19:16 +1300
    Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Mark H Harris <harrismh777@gmail.com> - 2014-03-25 14:29 -0500
  Re:unicode as valid naming symbols Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2014-03-25 15:45 -0400
  Re: unicode as valid naming symbols Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2014-03-25 22:26 -0400

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