[Python-Dev] [Python-checkins] r64424 - in python/trunk:Include/object.h Lib/test/test_sys.py Misc/NEWSObjects/intobject.c Objects/longobject.c Objects/typeobject.cPython/bltinmodule.c

[Guido van Rossum]

Now that I've learned about the hex float format supported by C++ and
Java, I wonder if it wouldn't be better to support conversion to and
from that format and nothing else.

E.g.

>>> math.tohex(3.14)
'0x1.91eb851eb851fp+1'
>>> math.fromhex('0x1.91eb851eb851fp+1')
3.1400000000000001
>>>

BTW I am still hoping to be able the output of the second command to
just "3.14" but the tracker issue for that
(http://bugs.python.org/issue1580) is stuck on trying to decide
whether it's okay to have repr(<float>) occasionally return a string
that doesn't convert to the exact same value on another platform. (My
preferred approach would ensure that it does convert to the same value
on the same platform, because that's how I'd compute it.) Perhaps the
existance of an unambiguous hex format that is also interchangeable
with Java and C (and presumably C++) would alleviate that concern.

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)