Matlab vs Python (was RE: Discussion: Introducing new operators f

[paul at prescod.net.bbs]

Charles Boncelet wrote:
>
> ...
>
> Remember, these people spend real money on Matlab.  Even the
> student edition is about $100.

Let me repeat a challenge I made to Huaiyu Zhu. If the only difference
between Matlab and Python is the syntax, then let's you and I make a
Matlab syntax for Python and sell it at half of Matlab's price. We could
make millions on a month's work!

After a year or so, we could promote our company as a B2B solution
(linear optimization is part of supply chain management, right?) and
then we check out as multi-millionaires.

My strong feeling is that people don't just use Matlab for the syntax.
And the popularity of Matlab books is probably not proportional to the
popularity of Matlab. University students are forced to buy those books.

Also, I agree with Bjorn. If we try to take on the attributes of every
language that is more popular than Python, we'll end up with a mess.

> Now to the specifics of the proposal: I'd like to see "@" for matrix
> mulitplication and "*" for element-wise multiplication.  This preserves
> compatibility with numpy, although breaks it with the MatPy package.
> It is more important, IMHO, to preserve compatibility with the existing
> python numerical facilities than with Matlab.  Any user switching over
> will have to learn a lot of new things anyway.  Distinguishing @ and *
> should be easy enough.

Why is it that Huaiyu Zhu proposes several operators and you propose
only one? A single operator has a MUCH higher chance of being accepted.

--
 Paul Prescod - Not encumbered by corporate consensus
It's difficult to extract sense from strings, but they're the only
communication coin we can count on.
	- http://www.cs.yale.edu/~perlis-alan/quotes.html