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If a non-programmer asks you "Why do you guys say int x = 10; float y = 0.2 Why not x is an whole number who value is 10 y is a fraction whose value is one fift
by kd0amg 14y ago
If a non-programmer asks you "Why do you guys say int x = 10; float y = 0.2 Why not x is an whole number who value is 10 y is a fraction whose value is one fifth.
Knowing what language we're working in is enough to know that's exactly what that code says. This is not the case in mathematical notation. C × A could be the direct product of two groups, or maybe the tensor product of two graphs, or perhaps the product of two lattices, or it could be one of who knows how many other things. The issue here is not high precision, but the opposite: heavy reliance on convention and context in order to be unambiguous.
- trhtrsh 14y agoKnowing what language we're working in is enough to know that's exactly what that _math_ says, too. You don't expect to understand Java after learning PHP, and you don't expect to understand a Topology paper after learning Algebra. "C x A" is a combination of C and A. C, x, and A are defined once somewhere at the beginning of the paper/book.
- kd0amg 14y ago"C x A" is a combination of C and A. C, x, and A are defined once somewhere at the beginning of the paper/book. Should I take this (which doesn't actually hold in the general case) to mean that every document uses its own language? That isn't exactly good for readability. We certainly don't consider every software project to be written in its own language (and no, the semantics of C does not tell us what the dP function does).