Steven D'Aprano wrote: > On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:12:24 +0200, Juho Schultz wrote: > > >>Because the intended audience is probably reads formulas better than >>they read Python. The 1st sentence of the Introduction: "This book is >>aimed at senior undergraduates and graduate students in Engineering, >>Science, Mathematics and Computing". >> >>Last month I spent about an hour trying to explain why >>a*2.5e-8 = x >>raises a SyntaxError and why it should be written >>x = a*2.5e-8 >>The guy who wrote the 1st line has MSc in Physics from Cambridge (UK). >>In mathematics, there is no difference between the two lines. > > > An hour??? > > No disrespect intended, but either you are really bad at explaining, or he > is really bad at listening. Thinking of some of the MSc's I've known, > especially those from Oxbridge, I'm guessing the second. > > "The interpreter does not have human intelligence, and requires a fixed > format. Equals sign does not represent equality, it represents > assignment, and the left hand side of the assignment must be a name, end > of story. Yes, it sucks that you can't write Python code in mathematics, > just like it sucks that you can't write English in French or Lisp in C. > Get over it." > > ... and if that fails, try repeated application of the clue stick until enlightenment or unconsciousness ensues.
regards Steve -- Steve Holden +44 150 684 7255 +1 800 494 3119 Holden Web LLC www.holdenweb.com PyCon TX 2006 www.python.org/pycon/ -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
