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>This annoys a lot of computer programmers (and academics) who are inclined to the mathematical mindset and want quantitative answers instead. I find many synt

>This annoys a lot of computer programmers (and academics) who are inclined to the mathematical mindset and want quantitative answers instead. I find many syntactical patterns that are considered elegant to be the opposite, and not as clear as mathematics, actually. For example, the the ternary operator mentioned in the article `return n % 2 === 0 ?'Even' : 'Odd;` feels very backwards to my human brain. It's better suited for the compiler to process the syntax tree rather than a human. A human mathematician would do something like this: ⎧ 'Even' n mod 2 = 0 f(n) = ⎨ ⎩ 'Odd' n mod 2 ≠ 0 Which is super clear.

pc86 2y ago
Well of course if you have the freedom to write a mathematical expression you're going to be able to present it in a way that is clearer than if you have to type monospace characters into a text editor. I'm not sure it's realistic to expect to be able to type a mathematical expression using ascii more clearly than you can write it by hand (or implement using special unicode characters).
- cdirkx 2y ago
  Quite some years back I worked with JetBrains MPS which used a "projectional editor" instead of a text editor. It was pretty neat to be able to enter "code" as mathematical expressions, or even state machine tables or flow diagrams with actual nodes instead of a text representation. Sadly not much has happened in that space since then, but it was cool to think about what our tools of the future might look like. (of course ignoring all the practical reasons why we're probably still using regular text files in 100 years)
Timwi 2y ago
I understand that you might find the mathematical notation clearer but I think it's presumptuous of you to speak on behalf of all humans, or even all human mathematicians. I'm a mathematics graduate and I find the conditional operator more readable in a program because it corresponds to what the program actually does (it checks the condition first); but I also recognize that the two notations have exactly the same information content and only differ superficially in syntax, making it entirely a matter of familiarity.

pc86 2y ago

Well of course if you have the freedom to write a mathematical expression you're going to be able to present it in a way that is clearer than if you have to type monospace characters into a text editor. I'm not sure it's realistic to expect to be able to type a mathematical expression using ascii more clearly than you can write it by hand (or implement using special unicode characters).

cdirkx 2y ago
Quite some years back I worked with JetBrains MPS which used a "projectional editor" instead of a text editor. It was pretty neat to be able to enter "code" as mathematical expressions, or even state machine tables or flow diagrams with actual nodes instead of a text representation. Sadly not much has happened in that space since then, but it was cool to think about what our tools of the future might look like. (of course ignoring all the practical reasons why we're probably still using regular text files in 100 years)

Timwi 2y ago

I understand that you might find the mathematical notation clearer but I think it's presumptuous of you to speak on behalf of all humans, or even all human mathematicians. I'm a mathematics graduate and I find the conditional operator more readable in a program because it corresponds to what the program actually does (it checks the condition first); but I also recognize that the two notations have exactly the same information content and only differ superficially in syntax, making it entirely a matter of familiarity.