As a software developer, the less ambiguous your notation is, the better it is for everyone involved. Not only will I use brackets, I’ll split my expression into multiple rows and use tabs to make it as readable as humanly possible. And maybe throw a comment or 2 if there’s still some black magic involved
I had someone submit a pull request recently that, in addition to their actual changes, also removed every single parenthesis that wasn’t strictly necessary in a file full of 3D math functions. I know it was probably the fault of an autoformatter they used, but I was still the most offended I’ve ever been at a pull request.
Autoformatter? More like obfuscator
As a professor said, most programming languages don’t care about readability and whitespace. But we care because humans need it to parse meaning. Thus, write code for people, not for the machine. Always assume that someone with no knowledge of the context will have to debug it, and be kind to them. Because that someone might be you in six months when you have completely forgotten how the code works.
Source code is for humans, then the compiler turns it into code for machines.
Yep, if you’re writing code for a machine, just do it in binary to save compilation time (/s just in case). Also, you in six months will indeed be someone with no knowledge of the context. And every piece of code you think you write for one-time use is guaranteed to be reused every day for the next 5 years
And every piece of code you think you write for one-time use is guaranteed to be reused every day for the next 5 years
I genuinely hate being human for this stuff. So many things have such crazy computational shortcuts, it’s sometimes difficult to remember which part represents reality. Outside of the realm of math, where “imaginary” numbers are still a touch of enigma to me, so many algorithms are based on general assumptions about reality or the specific task, that the programmatic approach NEVER encapsulates the full scope of the problem.
As in, sometimes if you know EXACTLY how a tool works, you might still have no idea about the significance of that tool. Even in a universe where no one is lazy, and everyone wants to know “why?”, the answers are NOT forthcoming.
You’re a good human being.
As someone who used to code in Lisp, I’m all for excessive paranthesis use.
I, my head, shake.
- RPN user
Also known as: Japanese speaker
back and forth, forever.
Suuuuuch a weird movie lol
Also works if you dont trust yourself with correctly ordering your operations.
This is why every calculator should be a RPN calculator.
This is why every calculator should be a RPN calculator
No, this is why programmers should (re)learn the order of operations rules before writing a calculator.
Improved readability is always good
The underlying truth of this joke is: Programming syntax is less confusing than mathematical syntax. There are genuinely ambiguous layouts of syntax in math (to a human reader that hasn’t internalized PEMDAS, anyways) whereas you get a compilation error if ANYTHING is ambiguous in programming. (yes, I am WELL aware of the frustrations of runtime errors)
So better do higher math in Python? I agree.
Python isn’t the only programming language.
But a quite common pl in science.
Counterpoint: C function pointers (or just C in general)
Also: sometimes, a mathematician just has to invent some concept or syntax to convey something unconventional. The specific use of subscript/superscript, whatever ‘phi’ is being used for, etc. on whatever paper you’re reading doesn’t have to correlate to how other work uses the same concepts. It’s bad form, but sometimes its needed, and if useful enough is added to the general canon of what we call “math”. Meanwhile, you can encapsulate and obfuscate things in software, sure, but you can always get down to the bedrock of what the language supports; there’s no inventing anything new.
Yea, that’s it. Math syntax was created for humans, and programming syntax had to always remain deterministic for computers. It’s not an insult to either, just interesting how ambiguities show up often when humans are involved. I say ‘often’ for the general case: Math should be just as deterministic as programming, but it’s not in some situations.
Math should be just as deterministic as programming, but it’s not in some situations
Maths is 100% deterministic for order of operations. The issue is people not following all of the rules. Order of operations thread index
Math is. The syntax is arbitrary in some edge cases.
The syntax is arbitrary in some edge cases
Such as?
My calculator says -2² = -4, so yeah…
I would never write -n². Either ‐(n²) or (-n)². Order of operations shouldn’t be some sort of gotcha to trick people into misinterpreting you, it’s the intuitive reading of a well constructed mathematical expression.
Either ‐(n²) or (-n)². Order of operations shouldn’t be some sort of gotcha to trick people into misinterpreting you
It isn’t. With ‐(n²), n² is already a single term, so the brackets aren’t needed.
My calculator says -2² = -4
That’s correct
I just used the calc on window… it cannot respect order of operation. Any simple calculator from 1980 was better than that
I just used the calc on window… it cannot respect order of operation
Yeah, I’ve tried several times to get Microsoft to fix their calculators. I’ve given up trying now - eventually you have to stop banging your head against the wall.
I’ve never seen a calculator that had bracket keys but didn’t implement the conventional order of operations.
But anyway, I’m on Team RPN.
my dumb ass reading this: “Team rock paper nscissors”
RTS = rock taper scissors
FPS = frock paper scissors
I’ve never seen a calculator that had bracket keys but didn’t implement the conventional order of operations.
I’ve seen plenty
I feel this in my bones
I recall that there is a myriad of memes of the form ‘what is 4-2*3’ under which there is always a never ending discussion of confidently incorrect dumbasses denying the existence of the multiplication before addition rule.
So your suspicion is at least not unreasonable
$((A+B))
Is the title a Requiem for a Dream reference?
me using sbcl for everything
