Well, I think the semantics of Python's sum and SymPy's sum do not overlap, despite what Ronan says, but now that I think about it, I agree with Brian. If Python changes the semantics or behavior of sum(), we would have to change ours accordingly (although, being a builtin, this seems unlikely).
So I think we should change the name. Is summate the option everyone likes? I think I slightly prefer summation, even if it does break verb-noun parity, because it is the more common term used for the mathematical object. Aaron Meurer On Jan 8, 2011, at 12:41 PM, Brian Granger wrote: > On Sat, Jan 8, 2011 at 11:30 AM, Ronan Lamy <ronan.l...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Le vendredi 07 janvier 2011 à 20:07 -0700, Aaron S. Meurer a écrit : >>> So I have fixed all of the priority issues. I just need people to >>> finish reviewing them (they are the pull requests at >>> https://github.com/sympy/sympy/pulls/asmeurer that do not already have >>> a "+1" in the comments). I haven't pushed anything in yet because I >>> plan on doing it in one fell swoop after everything is reviewed to >>> make it simpler. >> >> Why do you want to wait? If there are incompatibilities between the >> commits, it'll be easier to solve them if we push them in one by one. >>> >>> But there is one final issue blocking the release, which is Issue 1376 >>> (sympy.sum overrides built-in sum with a different call syntax). The >>> reason I haven't fixed this one is that we need to make a decision about >>> what to do with sum(). The problem is that we are overriding the Python >>> builtin sum() with our own sum() that has a different calling syntax. >>> >>> Proposed solutions are: >>> >>> 1. Make our sum() act like Python's sum() when given a list. Mateusz has >>> implemented this in his poly12 branch, but some people don't like it. >>> >>> 2. Rename our sum. Suggestions so far have been sum_() and summation(). > > I think this is the best option. Simply making the sympy sum act like > Python's is still not desirable because the implementation and > performance characteristics are different. > > Cheers, > > Brian > >>> 3. Just use Sum().doit(). This is the only suggest that I do not like, >>> because it makes it look like Sum doesn't work if people don't know about >>> doit(). >>> >>> 4. Keep overriding sum() and mention it in our docs. >>> >>> I am fine with any of these (except I really don't like 3), but we need to >>> come to an agreement so that we can merge in polys12 and get the release >>> out. >> >> The problem with 1. is that it conflates 2 distinct functions with >> incompatible syntax and semantics under the same name. The builtin sum() >> works with any iterable, so consider the case when you try to get the >> sum of series whose generic term is iterable (e.g. a Tuple or some sort >> of Vector class): what should sum(Tuple(k, k+1), (k,0,5)) return? And >> what of sum(Tuple(k, k+1), 1)? >> >> I think we all agree that 3. and 4. are bad, so 2. is my preferred >> solution. 'summate' is a bit awkward, but I think it's the best >> suggestion - it's a verb and it doesn't contain an ugly and >> unpronounceable underscore. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "sympy" group. >> To post to this group, send email to sy...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> sympy+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/sympy?hl=en. >> >> > > > > -- > Brian E. Granger, Ph.D. > Assistant Professor of Physics > Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo > bgran...@calpoly.edu > elliso...@gmail.com > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "sympy" group. > To post to this group, send email to sy...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > sympy+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/sympy?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sympy" group. To post to this group, send email to sy...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sympy+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sympy?hl=en.
