Walter Bright wrote:
KennyTM~ wrote:
Nice. Meanwhile, I'd like an opSum() operator (∑ range) as well. It's
primarily about syntax sugar: reduce!("a+b")(range) is so ugly. In
practice, the most important case is the sum from 1 to n, which is an
extremely common operation. reduce!("a+b")(iota(1,n+1)) is horribly
ugly for something so fundamental. It's so ugly that noone uses it:
you always change it to n*(n+1)/2. But then, n gets evaluated twice.
As amply illustrated, one can make this argument pro and con about any
builtin operator. The waterfront real estate of builtin operators is
extremely limited, so we need to be very parsimonious in allocating it.
Candidates for builtin operators need to have a very high bar.
The question is, does ^^ clear that bar or not?
In order for everyone to air an informed opinion, a related question is:
will loop fusion be allowed with function calls?
Loop fusion currently only works with operators, and adding ^^ would allow:
a[] = b[] ^^ 3;
But with pow you can't do that:
a[] = pow(b[], 3);
Andrei
P.S. FWIW, I'm ambivalent on the issue; if functions were allowed for
automatic loop fusion that would tilt my opinion in disfavor of ^^, and
if not, it would tilt my opinion in favor of ^^.
