[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Eric V. Smith added the comment: Thanks, Mark. I'll just close it now. I've made a reminder about the PEP, but not sure when/if I'll get to it. -- resolution: -> rejected stage: -> resolved status: open -> closed ___ Python tracker

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Mark Dickinson added the comment: @Eric: Are you okay with closing this issue, or do you think we should leave it open as a reminder to write that PEP? -- ___ Python tracker

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Raymond Hettinger added the comment: Unfortunately, this ship sailed a long time ago. Changing it now would create more problems that it solves. > I doubt that that will be enough to silence the repeated requests: > people are still going to complain that the value that was entered > as

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Mark Dickinson added the comment: [Serhiy] > Just making the parser [...] recognizing "i" as well as "j" as complex number > suffix. Okay, thanks. I doubt that that will be enough to silence the repeated requests: people are still going to complain that the value that was entered as `1i`

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Serhiy Storchaka added the comment: Just making the parser (and the complex constructor) recognizing "i" as well as "j" as complex number suffix. Others already proposed more complex changes like adding options for formatting complex numbers, but I did not though about it. It is just a

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Change by Serhiy Storchaka : -- versions: +Python 3.10 -Python 3.9 ___ Python tracker ___ ___ Python-bugs-list mailing list

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Mark Dickinson added the comment: Serhiy: what *specific* proposal were you considering? If your proposal includes changing the complex str/repr to use "i" instead of "j", how do you propose to address the backwards compatibility problem? -- ___

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Serhiy Storchaka added the comment: Only yesterday I thought about proposing this idea. I used to think using "i" or "j" was a type of local feature, like using a comma or a period as a decimal separator, or different writing for less-or-equal, but it looks like even in the English-speaking

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Mark Dickinson added the comment: > cmath.nanj That should be cmath.nani, of course. Sorry. -- ___ Python tracker ___ ___

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Mark Dickinson added the comment: See also #10562. Conceivably, we could add support for `i` on parsing (along with adding `cmath.infi` and `cmath.nanj`). We can probably also find a way to extend the format specification to allow use of `i` in place of `j` on output. The harder problem

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Eric V. Smith added the comment: Good point on surveying other languages for a PEP. You're further along in your thinking than I am! -- ___ Python tracker ___

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Steven D'Aprano added the comment: I think it always helps to look at what other languages do. It doesn't mean that we must follow them, but it may help us decide that the choice made in Python 1 was a mistake and it is worth going through the pain of deprecation, or that it is still

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Eric V. Smith added the comment: I don't think it really matters what other languages do. We're not designing this from scratch. We need to reflect that state we're in, which is many, many lines of working code using 'j'. I see the two options as: support 'i' and 'j', or break existing code

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Eric V. Smith added the comment: As I said in msg385648, I don't think it's feasible. Maybe I'll write a PEP just to get it rejected so we can point to it when this discussion comes up, which it does a few times a year. -- ___ Python tracker

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Emmanuel Arias added the comment: > Now, it's feasible change i for j on cpython? Asking from my ignorance on > this case. j for i, sorry -- ___ Python tracker ___

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Emmanuel Arias added the comment: Personally, it's more natural use 'j' for complex number, but it's true that in many math book (or that I used) letter 'i' is used. Now, it's feasible change i for j on cpython? Asking from my ignorance on this case. -- nosy: +eamanu

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Eric V. Smith added the comment: Even if we wanted to switch to "i" we'd have to continue to also support "j": there's a ton of existing code that uses it. Since "j" is used by some fields (including my own) for the imaginary part of complex numbers, and since I don't think we want to have

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Christian Heimes added the comment: Your statement is not correct. A lot of people use "j" in fields of electrical engineering and signal processing to express the imaginary part. The letter "i" is commonly used for electric current in these fields. -- nosy: +christian.heimes

[issue43025] Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers

Bhuvanesh Bhatt added the comment: Nobody these days uses j to represent the imaginary part of complex numbers. Regardless of what Guido wrote earlier, this issue should be fixed. -- title: Use normal 'i -> Use normal 'i' character to denote imaginary part of complex numbers type: