[Python-ideas] Python Numbers as Human Concept Decimal System

[Mark H. Harris]

On Wednesday, March 5, 2014 2:10:18 AM UTC-6, Andrew Barnert wrote:

The types you dislike are not programming concepts that get in the way of 
> human mathematics, they are human mathematical concepts. The integers, the 
> rationals, and the reals all behave differently. And they're not the only 
> types of numbers—Python handles complex numbers natively, and it's very 
> easy to extend it with, say, quaternions or even arbitrary matrices that 
> act like numbers.
>
hi Andrew,  your response reminds me of that scene from 'Star Trek: First 
Contact,'  
when Data was getting a little lippy with her eminence The Borg (the one 
who is many)  
(he was trying to explain to her why she doesn't exist, since her ship was 
destroyed 
just after coming through the chronometric particle vortex--time travel--) 
and she 
responded, "You think so three dimensionally... "

When asked about the Borg hierarchy she stated simply, "You imply disparity 
where none exists..."

Now, that was one hot cybernetic babe.  My point is philosophical, really. 
 I do not dislike 
numerical types.  I simply do not believe they are necessary.  In fact, 
Rexx (in a simple way) 
and other languages too for that matter, have demonstrated that types are 
superficial paradigms in 
symbolic thought that can quite readily be eliminated for most AI 
applications given enough
memory, and enough time.   Fortunately, memory is becoming more plentiful 
(less expensive)
and time is shrinking away through processor speed, pipe-lining, and 
software engineering 
like decimal.Decimal.

Keep in mind that I am NOT proposing the elimination of numbers, I am 
proposing the 
abstraction of *python numbers  (yes, all of them...) *in such a way that 
programmers and
specialists, and accountants and grade school teachers may use Python 
without having
to be computer scientists (all of the work happens under the covers, 
written by someone 
like me, or you) and everything at the top is simple and human readable; 
for them.

Yes, its work.  And, its doable.  A *number *should be no more convoluted 
in a modern age
of symbol set processing than any other abstract idea (just because of 
arbitrary limits 
and abstraction paradigms).     Unifying *python numbers *requires a high 
order paradigm 
shift for sure;  but the concept is absolutely doable.

kind regards,




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