3 ms·

Hex code doesn't allow you to write words. And "sum" is simply better than "Σ". There is no way to know in advance what the latter means, while for the former u

Hex code doesn't allow you to write words. And "sum" is simply better than "Σ". There is no way to know in advance what the latter means, while for the former understanding of verbal English is enough. Mathematicians basically use an iconographic writing system like Chinese.

anigbrowl 2y ago
I wish they did, because then it would be more consistent and properly documented.
mmooss 2y ago
We can think of many other strings used by programmers that are not common English, and many strings used by mathematicians that are. I think the difference is that you are a programmer and not a mathematician (I'm guessing) and are saying, effectively, that what you are subjectively familiar with is objectively more universally understood.
- card_zero 2y ago
  This argument works both ways, apart from it's the mathematicians who are wrong.
  - mmooss 2y ago
    Yes it does work both ways. Any mathematician or programmer who uses it is, afaict, just imagining their subjective perspective is some objective universal truth.
- cubefox 2y ago
  > We can think of many other strings used by programmers that are not common English, and many strings used by mathematicians that are. Are you saying special symbols aren't more common in mathematics than in programming? I simply disagree. Mathematicians hardly use strings at all, e.g. for function names or variables, while they are very common in programming. Mathematicians mostly use single letters in Roman or Greek alphabet, and sometimes with various strange styles like fraktur, double strokes etc.
  - mmooss 2y ago
    > Are you saying special symbols aren't more common in mathematics than in programming? No, I agree that programming uses more ASCII. I'm saying that using a smaller alphabet (e.g., hex), doesn't make it easier to understand. Programming is just as arcane and difficult to understand - even programmers have trouble understanding each other's code, and generally it's believed that the understanding requires documentation in English.
int_19h 2y ago
Programmers also write something like *[3]int instead of "pointer to array of 3 integers" in most PLs. (Modula-2 tried the latter, but it didn't stick.)
- cubefox 2y ago
  Yeah, though such special symbols are less common. I think they are still too common though. E.g. using the unnecessarily obscure "if (A) B" instead of "if A then B".

anigbrowl 2y ago

I wish they did, because then it would be more consistent and properly documented.

mmooss 2y ago

We can think of many other strings used by programmers that are not common English, and many strings used by mathematicians that are. I think the difference is that you are a programmer and not a mathematician (I'm guessing) and are saying, effectively, that what you are subjectively familiar with is objectively more universally understood.

card_zero 2y ago
This argument works both ways, apart from it's the mathematicians who are wrong.
- mmooss 2y ago
  Yes it does work both ways. Any mathematician or programmer who uses it is, afaict, just imagining their subjective perspective is some objective universal truth.
cubefox 2y ago
> We can think of many other strings used by programmers that are not common English, and many strings used by mathematicians that are. Are you saying special symbols aren't more common in mathematics than in programming? I simply disagree. Mathematicians hardly use strings at all, e.g. for function names or variables, while they are very common in programming. Mathematicians mostly use single letters in Roman or Greek alphabet, and sometimes with various strange styles like fraktur, double strokes etc.
- mmooss 2y ago
  > Are you saying special symbols aren't more common in mathematics than in programming? No, I agree that programming uses more ASCII. I'm saying that using a smaller alphabet (e.g., hex), doesn't make it easier to understand. Programming is just as arcane and difficult to understand - even programmers have trouble understanding each other's code, and generally it's believed that the understanding requires documentation in English.

int_19h 2y ago

Programmers also write something like *[3]int instead of "pointer to array of 3 integers" in most PLs. (Modula-2 tried the latter, but it didn't stick.)

cubefox 2y ago
Yeah, though such special symbols are less common. I think they are still too common though. E.g. using the unnecessarily obscure "if (A) B" instead of "if A then B".