[Edu-sig] re: More spillover re the division PEP

[Arthur Siegel]

Kevin writes:

>They of course will remember this when an
>error occurs, but that could happen be in a 
>production environment.

Kirby writes:

>However, I'm adding that I think the limitations 
>of the current / are more likely to trip up a pro 
>than a dedicated, serious-minded newbie

And as boring as it might be, I essentially agree with the
major points of both your posts.

(Except that I am probably less sympathetic to  the
issues of someone who can't keep in mind that using
a programming language is different than using a calculator)

I recall for some reason in this context when I encountered
a previously unreported JPython bug.  It was a major 
victory for me to be able to eliminate all other 
possibilities and send up a bug report.  

The point of the story - if there is one - is that a few hours
later someone (who had nothing to do with writing the
original piece of code) comes back with the fix.  
Somewhere in the thousands of lines of Java 
code a ">" had to be a ">=".

Issue gone. 

I looked at the offending code and the fix and 
didn't have a clue what was going on.

But was awed that someone was able find it. 

And a little scared silly by a closer exposure 
to the rigor of the discipline.

Though I hope this is not interpreted as 
lobbying for rigor for rigor's sake in a
learning environment.  

I certainly understand that many of the more
rigorous aspects of programming are hidden from
me in Python's C code, and wouldn't have in at
any way.  But like all processes, there is a point
of diminishing returns, and even a point perhaps
where the process  feeds back over itself.

Whatever that might mean.

ART

PS - I thought I sent this note up last
night. Don't see it posted. If duplicative, I apologize.