data structures for dates was ---Re: hold question
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- Subject: [mg132341] data structures for dates was ---Re: hold question
- From: Richard Fateman <fateman at cs.berkeley.edu>
- Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2014 05:14:51 -0500 (EST)
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On 2/10/2014 12:00 AM, Francisco Gutierrez wrote: > .... > What I am overlooking? You've gotten a lot of answers which are just fine, but perhaps it is worth pointing out the obvious. Which is the use of the "/" or virgule as a mark to separate alternatives as "and/or" or as a line separating parts of a date, is essentially incompatible with the notation where it is used to separate parts of a fraction in Mathematica. If you allow Mathematica to treat "/" as a division, you are likely to be disappointed. I'm sure there are other places that Mathematica's adherence to some version of notation causes problems when similar or identical notation is associated with entirely different semantics. Some other representations used for dates within computer programs allow for all kinds of neat tricks, like finding the number of days between two dates by, um, subtraction. Taking a computer science course that treats subjects like data structures and their interpretation might be illuminating.