[Python-Dev] PEP 465: A dedicated infix operator for matrix multiplication

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Mon, Apr 07, 2014 at 06:06:17PM -0700, Benjamin Peterson wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 7, 2014, at 18:04, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> > On Mon, Apr 07, 2014 at 03:04:18PM -0700, Benjamin Peterson wrote:
> > > On Mon, Apr 7, 2014, at 14:58, Barry Warsaw wrote:
> > > > On Apr 07, 2014, at 05:47 PM, Alexander Belopolsky wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > >Python used to have an alias <> for != and I for one miss <> in 3.x.  I
> > > > >don't think TOOWTDI should be the last word in this debate.
> > > > 
> > > > PEP 401 to the rescue:
> > > 
> > > It occurs to me that since that Aprils' Fools joke is many years old
> > > now, we should remove it.
> > 
> > -1 on removal.
> 
> You can't be serious.

I can't? Would it help if I sprinkle smileys and *winks* throughout my 
post?


> > It makes a nice Easter Egg, especially now that "import this" has become 
> > less of an Easter Egg and more of a standard Python module :-)
> 
> It's a terrible Easter Egg because it's basically a CPython core
> developer in-joke.

Are we really going to start arguing about humour and what makes a good 
easter egg? I suppose next you're going to tell me that Monty Python 
isn't very funny.

It is precisely because it is a subtle in-joke that makes it a good 
easter egg. It's not difficult to find, just import __future__ as a 
regular module and call dir(__future__), so the fun is not in 
discovering the egg, but in working out what it does and what it means.

Many, many more people take part in the CPython core developer culture 
than just the core developers themselves. Look at the readership of this 
mailing list, which is open to the public and has regular posters who 
aren't core developers. In-jokes like Guido as the BDFL and Tim Peter's 
"adverb-phrase-ly 'yrs" signatures have become widely known throughout 
the Python community. Barry as FLUFL is less well known, but still 
accessible to anyone willing to put the effort in. These days, when 
almost any in-joke is only a quick google search away from being 
explained, that effort is trivial.

So yes, I am serious.


-- 
Steven