People like it for the same reason we like modern chess notation over older more verbose notation.
Consider a game that starts with white moving their king side knight to the square in front of the pawn on the bishop's file. Here is how that would have been written through the ages [1].
Early 1600s: The white king commands his owne knight into the third house before his owne bishop.
Mid-1700s: K. knight to His Bishop's 3d.
Early 1800s: K.Kt. to B.third sq.
Around 1850: K.Kt to B's 3rd.
Around 1860: K.Kt to B. 3d.
Around 1870: K.Kt to B3.
Around 1890: KKt-B3.
Early 1900s: Kt-KB3.
Mid 1900s: N-KB3.
Last quarter of 1900s to present: Nf3 or ♘f3 if you want to avoid language-specific piece names.
Reading that numpy code compared to reading APL is like reading a record of a chess game from around 1700.
Consider a game that starts with white moving their king side knight to the square in front of the pawn on the bishop's file. Here is how that would have been written through the ages [1].
Early 1600s: The white king commands his owne knight into the third house before his owne bishop.
Mid-1700s: K. knight to His Bishop's 3d.
Early 1800s: K.Kt. to B.third sq.
Around 1850: K.Kt to B's 3rd.
Around 1860: K.Kt to B. 3d.
Around 1870: K.Kt to B3.
Around 1890: KKt-B3.
Early 1900s: Kt-KB3.
Mid 1900s: N-KB3.
Last quarter of 1900s to present: Nf3 or ♘f3 if you want to avoid language-specific piece names.
Reading that numpy code compared to reading APL is like reading a record of a chess game from around 1700.
[1] https://www.knightschessclub.org/the_history_of_notation.htm...