[Python-3000] Fwd: Re: Fwd: Re: Fwd: Re: Octal

[Stephen Hansen]

On 3/15/07, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
>
> I'm neutral about the choice between 0o, 0c or 0t.


Interested Lurker Opinion: Can it be a "small" character? 0x1 leaps out for
me because of the fact that numbers are all "tall" and the x is short-- so
having that difference in height makes it very clear this is not a normal
base 10 number when I'm scanning text. 0o755 does the same, as does 0c755.
Heck, even 0b10100 looks fine even though the 'b' has a stalk, since its
bottom-heavy with the stalk off to the side.

However, a 't' is a tall and relatively streamlined character... 0t755 looks
all jumbled together and doesn't provide as clear a visual indicator that
something abnormal is going on here. I periodically have to use octal
numbers, and so far am only using them with the int() function because I
don't find 0755 as readily expressive of "Hi! I'm Octal!" as I'd like. 0t755
wouldn't be much of an improvement; but anything else short would be, from
0o755 to 0c755 to ... 0a755 .. or whatever. :)

--Stephen, who goes back to lurking interestedly. :)
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