Re: [Gretl-devel] matrix transposition/multiplication operator precedence
Am 02.07.2016 um 11:33 schrieb Riccardo (Jack) Lucchetti:
On Sat, 2 Jul 2016, Sven Schreiber wrote:
I agree with Sven on this, but OTOH what people expect on the basis
of
their mathematical background counts up to a point. The important thing
is to stick as closely as possible to the principle of least surprise,
which is, in turn, dictated by what other matrix-oriented languages do:
as far as I can tell, the expression
a'b'
* is equivalent to (a') * (b') in Ox, Gauss and Julia
* is illegal in Octave (which doesn't have, I think, the binary ' operator)
so we're the exception. So I guess it's just another case of choice
between backward-compatibility and pragamtism.
If it's considered a bug / non-intended behavior then it would not
typically count as an incompatible change. (The bug could also be in the
operator precedence spec, although admittedly the issue gets murkier then.)
cheers,
sven