> Kolmogorov discussed this in loving detail, and made many beautiful points along the way, e.g., that the invention of the equals sign helped make possible not

> Kolmogorov discussed this in loving detail, and made many beautiful points along the way, e.g., that the invention of the equals sign helped make possible notions such as equations (and algebraic manipulations of equations). And then programmers came along and mangled the mathematical notion of the equals sign with the imperative notion of assignment. And here we are. Using = for assignment when we ought to have been using : instead, if we were to rely on people’s intuitions from reading and writing. Which of course is difficult now that : has been co-opted by type systems.