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

[Robert Kern]

On 2014-04-09 12:12, Nick Coghlan wrote:
> On 8 April 2014 18:32, cjw <fn681 at ncf.ca> wrote:
>> Guido,
>>
>> I am sorry to read this.
>>
>> I shall be responding more completely in a day or two.
>>
>> In my view, @ and @@ are completely redundant.  Both operations are  already
>> provided, * and **, in numpy.matrix.
>>
>> PEP 465 provides no clear indication as to how the standard operators fail.
>
> Note that numpy.matrix is specifically discussed in
> http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0465/#rejected-alternatives-to-adding-a-new-operator
> (it's the first rejected alternative listed).

To be fair to Colin, the PEP asserts that the community at large would prefer an 
operator to the status quo but only alludes to the reason why it does so rather 
than explaining it fully. Personally, I think that's a reasonable allocation of 
Nathaniel's time, but then I happen to have agreed with the PEP's position 
before it was written, and I personally witnessed all of the history myself so I 
don't need it repeated back to me.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
  that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
  an underlying truth."
   -- Umberto Eco