Steven, I see your point, however, if we look (again) at Ratio for insight:
user=> (+ (+ 1 2)/(+ 3 4) 5) java.lang.ClassCastException: clojure.core$_SLASH_ cannot be cast to java.lang.Number (NO_SOURCE_FILE:0) The sort of notation for non-literals you suggest would be required would actually not be required nor, in my humble opinion, advisable. Or, at least it is not implemented for Ratio. Perhaps you're thinking of the '+' and '-' as infixed addition or subtraction, when they're not intended to be, no more than the '/' is infixed division in a Ratio. Instead, one could do: user=> (+ 1 2i) 1+2i Lastly, I'll argue it's not so much literals that are the big need as are stored values. If you saved a Ratio in a String (say, in a Database), you can retrieve and read it in "naturally" with it's toString() format. I suppose java serialized storage does avoid this, but we still would need to handle the "natural" toString() format of the output of a complex number, just as Ratio does. On a side note, I really appreciate all these contrasting opinions. Ultimately, I'm going to have to convince Rich and the other core developers to make this change, and I think I'm going to have a much more well-reasoned and developed argument for the change when I do! :-) -Travis On Jun 8, 6:33 am, Steven Devijver <steven.devij...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 8 jun, 05:47, Daniel <doubleagen...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > These notation arguments are compelling. > > I'm not convinced. The notation would only work for literals, and how > often would one write literal complex numbers? > > For non-literals the notation would need to support this: > > (* (my-complicated-algo x)+(my-other-complicated-algo y)i (another- > algo z)i) > > This is no issue at all without this notation: > > (complex-times [(my-complicated-algo x) (my-other-complicated-algo y)] > [0 (another-algo z)]) > > Implementing this notation would obviously require a serious overhaul > of clojure for a nice-to-have feature. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en
