[Python-ideas] Is there a good reason to use * for multiplication?

[Ram Rachum]

On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 10:34 PM, Mike Graham <mikegraham at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 4:27 PM, Ram Rachum <ram.rachum at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi everybody,
> >
> > Today a funny thought occurred to me. Ever since I've learned to program
> > when I was a child, I've taken for granted that when programming, the
> sign
> > used for multiplication is *. But now that I think about it, why? Now
> that
> > we have Unicode, why not use · ?
> >
> > Do you think that we can make Python support · in addition to *?
> >
> > I can think of a couple of problems, but none of them seem like
> > deal-breakers:
> >
> >  - Backward compatibility: Python already uses *, but I don't see a
> backward
> > compatibility problem with supporting · additionally. Let people use
> > whichever they want, like spaces and tabs.
> >  - Input methods: I personally use an IDE that could be easily set to
> > automatically convert * to · where appropriate and to allow manual input
> of
> > ·. People on Linux can type Alt-. . Anyone else can set up a script
> that'll
> > let them type · using whichever keyboard combination they want. I admit
> this
> > is pretty annoying, but since you can always use * if you want to, I
> figure
> > that anyone who cares enough about using · instead of * (I bet that
> people
> > in scientific computing would like that) would be willing to take the
> time
> > to set it up.
> >
> >
> > What do you think?
> >
> >
> > Ram
>
> Python should not expect characters that are hard for most people to
> type.


No one will be forced to type it. If you can't type it, use *.



> Python should not expect characters that are still hard to
> display on many common platforms.
>

We allow people to have unicode variable names, if they wish, don't we? So
why not allow them to use unicode operator, if they wish, as a completely
optional thing?


>
> I think you'll find strong opposition to adding any non-ASCII
> characters or characters that don't occur on almost all keyboards as
> part of the language.
>
> Mike
>
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