In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 00:13:28 -0800, Kay Schluehr wrote: > >[snip lambda calculus stuff] > >> In Python you can write: >> >> Y = lambda g: (lambda f: g(lambda arg: f(f)(arg))) (lambda f: g(lambda >> arg: f(f)(arg))) >> >> This serves the purpose. Try Y(F) and see. > > >Is any of this stuff maintainable in the real world of IT, where >most programmers don't have computer science degrees? You come along six >months after the project was finished to maintain this code and discover >that the whiz-kid lambda calculus guy never commented anything because >that would detract from the elegance of his one liners; what happens next?
Excessive cleverness can lead to unmaintainable code. So can excessive stupidity. Since there are a lot more stupid people than clever people out there I think the more likely scenario is having to maintain unmaintainable code written by a complete idiot whose programming knowledge comes solely from books whose titles end with "In 7 Days". Oh, and I'd hope that code reviews, etc. would have kept lambda-boy from getting too far down this path of self invocation. Alan -- Defendit numerus -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
