proposed syntax change

[Robert Fraser]

Paul D. Anderson wrote:
> I was browsing the Python spec yesterday and came across this interesting and useful syntax:
> 
> "/" (one slash) means floating point division, e.g. 5/2 = 2.5 even though 5 and 2 are integers
> 
> "//" (two slashes) means integer (floor) division, e.g. 5.0//2.0 = 2.0 even though 5.0 and 2.0 are floats.
> 
> I've always been a little troubled by the standard division operator being dependent on the types of the operands. (I understand the need for it, I just didn't like it much.) Now here is an elegant (IMHO) solution.

I like the idea of adding a "floating point division", but I think it 
should be a *new* feature while the current / and // are left as they 
are. How about "./"?

5   /  2   = 2         // Current behavior
5.0 /  2.0 = 2.5       // Current behavior
5   ./ 2   = 2.5       // New behavior
5.0 ./ 2.0 = 2.5       // It always floating-point divides

IOW, ./ is short for "cast operands to double and divide".

If ./ proves too hard to parse (I think it might require some 
lookahead), then /^ might work.