"Jerry Avins" <jya@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:jZWdnXcydMjladzanZ2dnUVZ_uuqnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> cr88192 wrote:
>
> ...
>
>> I will claim, expressions like:
>> x x * y y * +
>> or:
>> x x times y y times add
>>
>> are at a natural disadvantage to:
>> x*x+y*y
>>
>> for many any varied reasons (at least wrt normal humans).
>>
>> one can assert, well, maybe it is because that is what people know
>> already (most people being exposed to algebra and C family languages),
or
>> maybe there is something more, intrinsic...
>
> You seem extraordinarily parochial to me, and unaware of it. I've been
> using RPN long enough so that the HP 35 seemed "normal" to me when it
> still cost $400. I guess you're normal and I'm not. Is that it?
>
possibly, or at least, the majority.
if we add up developers for C, C++, Java, and C#, we have a very large
number of people.
if we include Delphi, JS, Python, VB, ... we have even more.
and, I suspect, if you add Forth developers, or maybe even Forth, Scheme,
and Lisp developers, we have a much smaller number of people...
I would suspect that, in general, the vast majority of developers would
agree with me.
> If you want somebody else's natural, how about
>
> x^2
> y^2
> _____+ ?
>
>
natural is not readable.
one can argue all they want that RPN is more natural, but that is not what
I
am arguing here.
I argue about readability, where I assert that C has the upper hand.
with C code, I can quickly scroll though some large source file and have a
general idea how it works, not by any real mental processing, but by
appearance.
....
so, yes, for example, one has to learn algebra, but this does not mean it
is
not worthwhile.
x^2+y^2, absent defining x or y, can't be simplified further...
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