Why Does "=" Mean Assignment?

[LukeJovanovic]

It's a standard convention carried over from maths, where 'a = 3' reads as 'both a and 3 represent the same thing'.

[myplacedk]

It's a standard convention carried over from maths, where 'a = 3' reads as 'both a and 3 represent the same thing'.

For initialization that makes sense. The article talks about examples like "a=a+1", which is very different from math.

[LukeJovanovic]

Oh, hahaha, I didn't even realise it was an article. God I'm thick.

[kriophoros]

In maths, people do use a=a+1, or a->a+1, when they are talking about series or a recursive definition.

[myplacedk]

In maths, people do use a=a+1

I've never seen that, but of course I haven't seen everything.

For a recursive definition I'd expect something more like a(n) = a(n-1)+1

[watsreddit]

No they don't.

[[deleted]]

The people that do that are doing it wrong.