On Sat, Nov 30, 2019 at 11:54:35AM -0800, Andrew Barnert via Python-ideas wrote:

> To an experienced C programmer, both += and ++ are intuitive. But to a 
> novice who’s never programmed, neither one is intuitive.

Can we have a moratorium on the use of the word "intuitive" until people 
learn to stop misusing it for "things people have learned to expect"?

Neither += or ++ are intuitive to C programmers, or anyone else. You 
wouldn't say that the meaning of "python" was intuitive would you? Or 
driving a car?


intuitive
    adj 1: spontaneously derived from or prompted by a natural
           tendency; "an intuitive revulsion"
    2: obtained through intuition rather than from reasoning or
       observation [syn: intuitive, nonrational, visceral]


I think you are talking about reading of words/symbols which, through 
long use, have become second-nature. The reader has become accustomed to 
the symbol, and understands it without having to consciously think about 
it. The most accurate term is probably "conditioned response", the very 
opposition of intuition, but that's a bit jargony.


-- 
Steven
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