Re: generic * and 0

[Mikael Djurfeldt]

2006/12/5, SZAVAI Gyula <address@hidden>:
> Kevin Ryde wrote:
> > "Mikael Djurfeldt" <address@hidden> writes:
> >
> >> (Not entirely sure that the common zero is a good idea, but I tend
> >> to think so.)
> >>
> >
> > I suppose it's a question of whether "*" should do that, or leave it
> > up to the application.
> >
>
> I think there are 3 solution:
> 1, make * really generic (non-associative, no 0, no 1)

In Guile, this might be tricky to do without large damage to performance.

> 2, make * non-generic

This would make it impossible to extend the arithmetic system with matrices etc.

> 3, document this strange behaviour

Absolutely.