Well, I finally ran into a Python Unicode problem, sort of
Rustom Mody
rustompmody at gmail.com
Mon Jul 4 01:14:45 EDT 2016
On Monday, July 4, 2016 at 8:03:47 AM UTC+5:30, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Mon, 4 Jul 2016 07:28 am, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
>
> > On Monday, July 4, 2016 at 6:39:45 AM UTC+12, John Ladasky wrote:
> >> Here's another worm for the can. Would you rather read this...
> >>
> >> d = sqrt(x**2 + y**2)
> >>
> >> ...or this?
> >>
> >> d = √(x² + y²)
> >
> > Neither. I would rather see
> >
> > d = math.hypot(x, y)
> >
> > Much simpler, don’t you think?
>
> Only if you think of x and y as the sides of a triangle, and remember
> that "hypot" is a Unix-like abbreviation for hypotenuse (rather than,
> say, "hypothesis". And it doesn't help you one bit when it comes to:
>
> a = √(4x²y - 3xy² + 2xy - 1)
In math typically one would write
a = √4x²y - 3xy² + 2xy - 1
with the radical sign running along upto and slightly beyond the 1
My unicode prowess is not upto doing that
Though experts may be able to use macrons/overlines
>
>
> Personally, I'm not convinced about using the very limited number of
> superscript code points to represent exponentiation. Using √ as an unary
> operator looks cute, but I don't know that it adds enough to the language
> to justify the addition.
I guess I am more or less in agreement (on THIS/THESE)
ie √ and superscripts is probably not worth the headache
Subscripts OTOH as part of identifier-lexemes doesn't seem to have any issues
Python3
>>> a₁ = 1
File "<stdin>", line 1
a₁ = 1
^
SyntaxError: invalid character in identifier
Haskell already has it
Prelude> let a₁ = 1
Prelude> a₁
1
Prelude>
Haskell allows the same for superscripts:
Prelude> let a¹ = 1
Prelude> a¹
1
which is probably not such a great idea!
Prelude> a¹ + a₁
2
Prelude>
My main point being unicode gives a wide repertory -- thats good
It also gives char-classification -- thats a start
But its not enough for designing a (modern) programming
Of course one can stay with ASCII
Like "There are many ways to skin a cat"
the modern version would be "There are many ways to be a Luddite"
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