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

[Mike Graham]

On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 4:45 PM, Ram Rachum <ram.rachum at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 10:40 PM, Blake Hyde <syrion at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Is anything gained from this addition?
>
>
> To give a practical answer, I could say that for newbies it's one small
> confusion that could removed from the language. You and I have been
> programming for a long time so we take it for granted that * means
> multiplication, but for any other person that's just another weird
> idiosyncrasy that further alienates programming.
>
> Also, I think that using * for multiplication is ugly.


You're emphatically not getting rid of *, though, which means 1)
you're only making it harder for new people to learn and deal with,
and b) you're at best not eliminating any perceived ugliness, in
reality probably compounding it.

Mike