On 26/03/2008, Nick Coghlan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I think if I come across a keyword I didn't know in a language I was > learning, I'd look it up to find out what it means.
Yes but it doesn't look like a keyword, does it? It looks like a letter of the greek alphabet to me. :-) The first time I came across lambda I looked for the definition of the variable "lambda" in the whole program and wondered about that strange syntax: "variable x,y: x+y". Lambda calculus is a > well established field of mathematics, so it's a perfectly valid name > for the construct. > In my university in Sweden lambda calculus is never taught neither in pure nor applied math. It is only a part of a course in computer science applied to linguistics. The word "lambda" however is used all over the place as an eigenvalue, or a wave length, or parameter, or Lamé coefficient in many of our courses. So don't use it. Use a named function instead. Then it will be even more > of a pleasure to read, because the name you choose will tell the reader > what the function is for. You can even attach a docstring to make it > really obvious. I don't use lambda. I never ever use it. But people use it. I am talking about beginners in front of a code where lambda is used. I am also talking about a beginner writing "lambda = 3." and getting a weird syntax error message. > I thought that the upcoming of python 3000 would be a good opportunity > > to change this name but since few or no python beginners or newcommers > > are reading this mailing list I don't think that I will get a lot of > > support here. :-) > > > For a long time, lambda functionality wasn't going to exist in Py3k at > all. It certainly isn't going to get enough care and attention to > warrant Guido expending the mental energy needed to arbitrarily choose a > new name, and anyone else going through the code and docs changing it. > > Python beginners and newcomers should be steered completely clear of > anonymous functions anyway. They can't. lambda is used all over the place. I'm teaching python for scientific computing and I don't teach lambda but I have to tell students never to use the name "lambda" as a variable. I also agree with the idea that the lambda construct should rather use a keyword free syntax like "x -> 3*x" or something of that kind. That would be gorgeous. Sorry if I posted this in the wrong mailing list. I was not aware of the python-ideas mailing list but you will sure get messages from me over there as well. :-) Thanks for all the responses. == Olivier
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