[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index]

Re: Programming style: postfix/prefix vs. functional

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg70716] Re: Programming style: postfix/prefix vs. functional
• From: Helen Read <hpr at together.net>
• Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 02:24:24 -0400 (EDT)
• References: <eha5kn$b82$1@smc.vnet.net> <ehhpst$73r$1@smc.vnet.net>
• Reply-to: HPR <read at math.uvm.edu>

Will Robertson wrote:
> Will Robertson wrote:
> 
>>If it's simply personal preference, what do you like to use?
> 
> 
> Thanks all, much food for thought.
> It seems pretty clear that most people prefer the shorthands.

Interesting. I don't use it myself, and find it quite difficult to read.

> I think I'm now of the opinion that if I was beginner enough in
> Mathematica, and I forgot what /@ meant after 6 months, I'd also forget
> how Map[] worked; so the advantages in simplifying the code by using
> the shorthand methods (both for reading and writing) outweigh any
> advantage of the verbosity of the named functions.

I teach calculus students to use Mathematica, and I don't show them the 
shorthand with the @ and so forth. I far prefer the Function[] notation 
for teaching.

-- 
Helen Read
University of Vermont