For a deeper exposition on language and notation, Guy Steele[0] is the definitive authority :-) - with some discussion here[1].<p>[0] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCuZkaaou0Q" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCuZkaaou0Q</a><p>[1]<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15473199" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15473199</a>
I love math but prefer programming type syntax to express math ideas, rather than much of traditional math notation. Much of it feels too alien and non-intuitive. Too irregular and random, and not predictable. Various styles duct taped together over centuries. The names of the various symbols are hard to remember, and dont get me started on the pain from not being on the standard PC/ASCII/Western computer keyboards.<p>In short, a similar critique to that of Perl and PHP, except math is even worse.<p>Show me a Python-like notation for a math construct and I'm good to go. Even a Lisp!
I feel like we haven't even standardized a lot of notation to express ideas in common use...talking about the future of notation is strange as people seem to just invent them as they go and there is no committee that steers this discussion.
Alright here goes a dumb question.<p>How much is mathematical notation contributing to the idea that "math is hard" and preventing students to think of math as lego bricks in which you can use a set of functions to build newer functions?
An interesting and often overlooked exposition by Dijkstra on notation: <a href="https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD13xx/EWD1300.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD13xx/E...</a><p><a href="https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd13xx/EWD1300.PDF" rel="nofollow">https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd13xx/EWD1300.PDF</a>