Re: [q-lang-users] New stuff in cvs: multichar ops, views

[Rob H. <hub...@gm...>]

Hello Albert and all,

Here's what the new complex operators do in Q7.7:

    ==> (1+:2) * (3+:4)
    -5+:10

    ==> 1 +: (2*3) +: 4
    1+:10

    ==> 1+:2 * 3+:4
    1+:10

I think that the last here is the wrong result. Could the precedence
of (+:) be raised? I think that (+:) should bind more tightly even
than (^) exponentiation, so perhaps it should have the precedence of
(.) function composition.

On the subject of (+:), I wondered whether there could be another
operator (-:) having the meaning "-i*", just as (+:) has meaning
"+i*". Then rather that this:

    ==> 5 - sqrt (-16)
    5.0 +: -4.0

the result would be

    ==> 5 - sqrt (-16)
    5.0-:4.0

which looks closer to "5.0 - i 4.0", and is I think prettier.

> But beware that Python doesn't really get this quite right:
>
>     >>> (1+2j) * (3+4j)
>     (-5+10j)
>
>     >>> 1 + (2j*3) + 4j
>     (1+10j)
>
>     >>> 1+2j * 3+4j
>     (1+10j)

Thanks,
Rob.