The pros and cons of different operator possibilities are discussed extensively in the PEP that added the matrix multiplication operator.

Direct link: http://legacy.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0465/#choice-of-operat...

I love the snark in that PEP:

> APL apparently used +.× , which by combining a multi-character token, confusing attribute-access-like . syntax, and a unicode character, ranks somewhere below U+2603 SNOWMAN on our candidate list.

and then later, one of the reasons @ is better than the alternatives:

> Whatever, we have to pick something.

What about the & char?

& is the bitwise and operator.

Yep, forgot thanks.

Not particularly well, though. No actual explanation was given for rejecting ^(star), and :(star) wasn't even mentioned.

(Aside: HN really needs a better way to escape star inline in text.)

It sounded like there was a bit of general preference for a single-character operator, which is a sentiment I can get behind.