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The syntax is trying to look friendly and familiar, but ultimately it's an abuse of a standard mathematical notation that has meant something else for hundreds
by willtim 10y ago
The syntax is trying to look friendly and familiar, but ultimately it's an abuse of a standard mathematical notation that has meant something else for hundreds of years. The original meaning, an equality relation, is still being taught to high-school children today, typically before python is forced upon them.
- hota_mazi 10y agoYou're over dramatizing. The human brain is very good at interpreting things in context and it's really trivial for even middle school kids to understand that `=` in math is different from `=` in programming. Do you want an example of something that beginner programmers struggle with? Pointers.
- augustk 10y agoBut you still need a symbol for the equality operator, so not choosing "=" for that seems rather absurd. It's comparable to making the choice to use + for string concatenation and ++ for (numeric) addition.
- zephyrfalcon 10y agoGood god. If anything is "forced" upon high-school kids, it's algebra. (Maybe ask the average high schooler and see what they have to say about it.) I haven't heard of any schools that make Python mandatory though; where are these located?