Re: Using 'λ'

[Alex Vong <alexvong1995@gmail.com>]

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Chris Marusich <cmmarusich@gmail.com> writes:

> Efraim Flashner <efraim@flashner.co.il> writes:
>
>> On Sat, Oct 13, 2018 at 04:51:48PM +0800, Alex Vong wrote:
>>> Hello guix,
>>> 
>>> Should we allow the use of 'λ' in guix? I think we have discussed it
>>> before, but I forget why it was rejected. Running 'rgrep' on source
>>> shows 7 uses of it. I think it is syntactically more pleasant and it
>>> encourges the use of short functions (at least for me!).
>>> 
>>
>> I know it's lambda, but to me it's like the ⓒ symbol. When I need to use
>> it I have to copy-paste it from somewhere else. I'm guessing as others
>> have mentioned, if you didn't recognize the Greek letter or come in
>> knowing some lisp then it's a wierd symbol that makes it harder to read
>> the source.
>
> I agree; I think writing "lambda" is better than using the symbol.  The
> symbol is cute, but writing "lambda" is less surprising.

OK. It seems many think λ is not newcomer-friendly, which is not what I
have thought about before. (Thanks for telling me!) I guess it's because
I have seen it in school physics before. But of course this is not a
compulsory subject, so it could be a wierd symbol for many.

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