age of Python programmers

[Jeff Shannon]

Tim Hochberg wrote:

> Reid Nichol wrote:
>
>> You're aware that a quantum leap means a extremely small leap, right?
>
>
> While quanta are typically very-very-very small, last I checked the 
> key feature of quantum transitions is not that they're small, but that 
> there are no intermediate steps. The object is in state A then it's in 
> state B, but it's never halfway (or anywhere) between. Like most 
> quantum stuff it's better not to think about that too closely.


And let's note, here, that "quantum" is not by any means restricted to 
the domain of quantum-mechanical physics.  It's true that, within that 
domain, quanta are almost always a very small amount.  But, as Tim says, 
the important feature of a quantum is that it's the smallest possible 
change of a given measurement, and implies a discrete (rather than 
continuum) underpinning to that measurement.  It just so happens that 
the most well-known and talked-about quantum domains are related to 
subatomic physics, where the quanta involved are indeed very very small; 
but there's no /a priori/ restriction of quanta to apply only in that field.

Jeff Shannon
Technician/Programmer
Credit International