4 ms·

If you write code that does basic arithmatic, a and b will do just fine in my experience. If I’m implementing an existing algorithm, I like to stick as close to

If you write code that does basic arithmatic, a and b will do just fine in my experience. If I’m implementing an existing algorithm, I like to stick as close to the algoritm’s symbol use as close as possible. I miss that I can’t use greek symbols like ϕ or σ as variables, but that’s just me probably.

chrisseaton 6y ago
When I try to implement an algorithm from a paper, I try to rename the variables from Greek letters in German fonts to have simple English names, but the scientist will say 'why are you making it more complicated!' I feel like we'll never understand each other!
minerjoe 6y ago
Depending on your programming language, you can definitely use those greek symbols as variables.
- sgillen 6y ago
  Yup was just about to say this. That being said I usually avoid doing this even though I do a lot of numerical work. They are usually more of a pain to type out, and I don’t trust that they will show up properly on every text editor that it might wind up in.
cinntaile 6y ago
I believe you can do this in Julia and possibly other languages as well.
zoomablemind 6y ago
When transcoding the formulas from CAS (comptuer algebra), the Greeks are often already spelled out in English transliteration (phi, sigma). Even more, sometimes for clarity or performance reasons it may make sense to introduce interim variables, I often name those just as what they'd look like in formula, say, pi/2, would be PI_2; A*B is kept in AB, or AxB depending on context. So many times the encoded formulas end up hiding accidental errors resulting from a desire to use programmer's names. With scientific code, it's safer to stick to formulas, as it's just easier to eyeball them or outright copy and paste to/from CAS for cross-check. Of course, it's paramount to have proper test-cases to make sure the encoded formulas match to the expected results.

chrisseaton 6y ago

When I try to implement an algorithm from a paper, I try to rename the variables from Greek letters in German fonts to have simple English names, but the scientist will say 'why are you making it more complicated!' I feel like we'll never understand each other!

minerjoe 6y ago

Depending on your programming language, you can definitely use those greek symbols as variables.

sgillen 6y ago
Yup was just about to say this. That being said I usually avoid doing this even though I do a lot of numerical work. They are usually more of a pain to type out, and I don’t trust that they will show up properly on every text editor that it might wind up in.

cinntaile 6y ago

I believe you can do this in Julia and possibly other languages as well.

zoomablemind 6y ago

When transcoding the formulas from CAS (comptuer algebra), the Greeks are often already spelled out in English transliteration (phi, sigma). Even more, sometimes for clarity or performance reasons it may make sense to introduce interim variables, I often name those just as what they'd look like in formula, say, pi/2, would be PI_2; A*B is kept in AB, or AxB depending on context. So many times the encoded formulas end up hiding accidental errors resulting from a desire to use programmer's names. With scientific code, it's safer to stick to formulas, as it's just easier to eyeball them or outright copy and paste to/from CAS for cross-check. Of course, it's paramount to have proper test-cases to make sure the encoded formulas match to the expected results.