this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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in programming, and in mathematics, it's always been weird to me that frequently paired variables are basically the most easily confused for one another pairs, especially when written quickly or sloppily.
exactly, this is so annoying. I don't know by first-hand experience, but I also think
pandqare confusing for dyslexic people.i knew i was forgetting some other common pairings, thank you. p/q and u/v always bugged me too.
u and v were so difficult for me to differentiate in handwriting. My handwriting is not that pretty and the difference between a round bottom and a sharp bottom is not that big when stressed in an exam.
Like in math: given are the vector fields u, nu and v and the normal vector n ...
I'm not dyslexic, but I always had to write P and Q capitalized on my truth tables to not absent-mindedly get them switched
Interesting footnote about p and q. You see them turn up on formal logic proofs (for philosophy)
When travelling in places where Latin script is not official (e.g. Middle East, Asia), I notice many mix-ups of
pqandb. I always wondered how this would impact their ability to learn to program.I think your problem is with the alphabet, friend
the worst is when you have to deal with v and ν (greek “nu”). add in the wedge symbol ∨ and things can get painful.
i've never heard a better argument to disallow unicode in variable names.
another great argument against is the greek question mark, which lets you write the following beautiful loop:
for (int ;=0;;<∧;;++)
Why would you ever have to do that?
to make a contrived example on the internet
M as in mancy