On Saturday, June 22, 2013 7:34:18 AM UTC+5:30, MRAB wrote: > Pure functional languages don't have mutables, or even variables, but > then we're not talking about a pure functional language, we're talking > about Python.
In which case neither do mathematicians. Do we rewrite the last 1000 years of math history? The incantation: x = x+1 is something algorithmists (ie programmers) write without batting an eyelid. Algebraically (ie for a mathematician) this is the specification of an impossibility. Every programmer needs to have both these modes of thinking -- algebraic and algorithmic -- up his sleeve. Ironically it was al Khwarizmi -- whose name became 'algorithm' -- who wrote al Gebr -- from which we get algebra ie its taken us a millenium to come full circle!! -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
