On Sat, Mar 16, 2019 at 12:39 AM Antoine Pitrou <solipsis@pitrou.net> wrote:
On Sat, 16 Mar 2019 01:41:59 +1100 Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> wrote:
Matrix multiplication is a perfect example: adding the @ operator could have been done in Python 0.1 if anyone had thought of it, but it took 15 years of numerical folk "whinging" about the lack until it happened:
Not so perfect, as the growing use of Python for scientific computing has made it much more useful to promote a dedicated matrix multiplication operator than, say, 15 or 20 years ago.
Theres more to it than that, really, but not really relevant here...
This is precisely why I worded my question this way: what has changed in the last 20 years that make a "+" dict operator more compelling today than it was? Do we merge dicts much more frequently than we did?
The analogy doesn't hold because @ was a new operator -- a MUCH bigger change than dimply defining the use of + (or | ) for dicts. I wouldn't mind the new operator if its meaning was clear-cut. But
here we have potential for confusion, both for writers and readers of code.
but it's NOT a new operator, it is making use of an existing one, and sure you could guess at a couple meanings, but the merge one is probably one of the most obvious to guess, and one quick test and you know -- I really can't see it being a ongoing source of confusion. -CHB -- Christopher Barker, PhD Python Language Consulting - Teaching - Scientific Software Development - Desktop GUI and Web Development - wxPython, numpy, scipy, Cython