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