Warp wrote:

>   The context was really a multilined program source code, not a
> mathematical formula, which your line really is.
> 
>   Mathematical formulae can often be written compactly because they
> a) aren't really program code, and b) there's an established syntax
> to write it compactly.

Perhaps you forget, the very word "computer" means "device for 
performing mathematical calculations". ;-)

Having programmed with Haskell for a while now, I would contest the 
"programs aren't mathematics" assertion. Having played with mathematics 
for even longer, I would contest the "established syntax" assertion too! 
[Rather, there are several incompatible and variously ambiguous syntaxes 
for writing any particular mathematical construct...]

Regardless, I would assert that how "readable" something is depends on 
how well it maps to your underlying mental processes - which is rather 
independant of the compactness or otherwise of the code. ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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