Am 12.02.2011 04:49, schrieb spir: > On 02/12/2011 02:36 AM, Daniel Gibson wrote: >> Am 12.02.2011 02:25, schrieb bearophile: >>> Michel Fortin: >>> >>>> No one noticed yet that the a..b:c syntax causes ambiguity? Tell me, >>>> how do you rewrite this using the new proposed syntax: >>>> >>>> auto aa = [iota(a, b, c): 1, iota(d, e): 2]; >>> >>> Right, that's why in another post I have said that syntax replaces most iota >>> usages. There are some situations where you can't use it well. This is >>> another situation I've shown in the enhancement request: >>> iota(10.,20.) >>> Writing it like this is not sane: >>> 10...20. >>> >>> >>>> Interval is clear only as long as there's no step value mentioned. >>>> Having a step value is quite a stretch from the usual notion of an >>>> interval. >>> >>> Right, but I think it's acceptable still, and better than iota. >>> >>> >>>> I like a lot so's suggestion "walk". I'm not sure it's much clearer >>>> than iota though. >>> >>> It's better than iota, but not by much. >>> >>> Bye, >>> bearophile >> >> I think it's much better. Even having "steps" (or a stepsize) is obvious with >> walk. >> >> iota only makes sense when you know this from other languages/libraries or if >> your native spoken language has a similar word that can be somehow connected. >> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iota doesn't give a real connection (and two >> English->German dictionaries I've checked don't either - one only listed >> iota as >> the greek letter, the other had mentions about something tiny) - it's just >> something small like that greek i-without-a-dot letter. >> There's nothing that connects it to a range of values with a fixed step size. > > That page looks listing various meanings in foreign languages, but mostly > stincks with the greek letter; it does not mention any sense everday sense > iota > actually has. Example fro fr.wiktionary: > > # Nom de ι, Ι, neuvième lettre et quatrième voyelle de l’alphabet grec. > Équivalent du i latin. > # Petite quantité négligeable, presque rien. > > Free translation: little negligible quantity, nearly nothing. > There are good chances iota has a similar meaning in numerous languages, > especially romance ones. Bearophile, Andrei? > > Denis
I don't think a iota representing something small is too helpful. iota() produces a (possibly very long) range of values with a possibly huge step size (but even with a fixed step size of one it wouldn't make much sense to me). Cheers, - Daniel
