Why did Quora choose Python for its development?

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Wed, 25 May 2011 10:23:59 -0400, D'Arcy J.M. Cain wrote:

> On Wed, 25 May 2011 07:36:40 -0400
> Roy Smith <roy at panix.com> wrote:
>> Remembering that I, J, K, L, M, and N were integer was trivial if you
>> came from a math background.  And, of course, Fortran was all about
> 
> The easiest way to remember was that the first two letters of INteger
> gave you the range.

Huh. I never knew that. I just learned from use that I, J, K, M and N 
were traditionally integers. I never used L for an integer variable, and 
don't know anyone who does.

I for integer is obvious. If you need a second one, you use the next 
letter J, and if you need a third, the one after that, K. If you need 
four, you're probably doing something wrong.

Likewise, N for number (as in, *counting* number). If you need two, using 
N and O is stupid, because O can be confused with 0, so you go backwards 
and use M.

However, using P and Q for integers is merely arbitrary convention.



-- 
Steven