> On Aug 31, 2017, at 3:58 PM, David Sweeris <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>> On Aug 31, 2017, at 2:51 PM, Dave DeLong via swift-evolution
>> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>>
>> Just a side observation…
>>
>> One of the downsides I would put forward to notation like this is it
>> massively increases the barrier to entry for anyone else. I look at that
>> “Reduction.agda” file and wonder if I need to go back to school for a degree
>> in Math just to understand what’s going on.
>>
>> On the other hand, while using inefficient matrix notation may be more
>> verbose, it is consistent with the other notation used in programming, which
>> means it is more easily understandable for new-comers to the code.
>
> New-comers from where? I've met more than one mathematician or physicist who
> claims they can't code because the syntax isn't what they're used to. People
> with different backgrounds can and do have vastly different ideas about what
> constitutes an intuitive syntax for any given semantic (which why I disagree
> with the notion that having more than one spelling for stuff is inherently
> bad).
That’s a fair point, which IMO reinforces the notion that changes like this
should be an editor-level feature, and not a code-level feature.
An editor can reformat code (using a font with bazillions of ligatures or
whatever) in was that you wouldn’t want to necessarily “hard code”.
Dave
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