Macaulay2 / Macaulay2/M2

Make == a symmetric method

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Interpreter
Dominant language
Macaulay2
Stars
435
Forks
297
Avg merge
4d 20h
Merged PRs (30d)
11

Description

Equality is always a symmetric relation, and I think we should implement an exception for == so that for instance the method `Vector == ZZ` will automatically also be used if `ZZ == Vector` is called.

Here is a potential implementation:
```m2
eq0 = lookup(symbol==, Thing, Thing)
Thing == Thing := (a,b) -> (
if lookup(symbol==, class b, class a)
=!= lookup(symbol==, class a, class b)
then b == a else eq0(a,b))
```
I don't like it very much, but it works:
```m2
i1 : eq0 = lookup(symbol==, Thing, Thing);

i2 : Thing == Thing := (a,b) -> (
if lookup(symbol==, class b, class a)
=!= lookup(symbol==, class a, class b)
then b == a else eq0(a,b));

i3 : 1 == vector {1,2}
stdio:2:149:(3):[1]: error: no method for binary operator == applied to objects:
1 (of class ZZ)
2
== | 1 | (of class ZZ )
| 2 |

i4 : Vector == ZZ := (v,f) -> matrix v == f;

i5 : 1 == vector {1,2}
stdio:4:34:(3):[2]: error: matrices have different shapes

i6 : 1 == vector {1}

o6 = true
```

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Research direction

No source files or tests are named in the issue. Start by tracing the `==` method lookup and the proposed `Thing == Thing` implementation, then reproduce the examples involving `1 == vector {1,2}` in the Macaulay2 interpreter. Done means the requested symmetric dispatch works without breaking existing equality behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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