[Python-Dev] Python 3.x and bytes

[Ethan Furman]

Martin v. Löwis wrote:
>> Here's another thought, that perhaps is not backwards-incompatible...
>>
>> some_var[3] == b'd'
>>
>> At some point, the bytes class' __eq__ will be called -- is there a
>> reason why we cannot have
>>
>> 1) a check to see if the bytes instance is length 1
>> 2) a check to see if
>>    i) the other object is an int, and
>>    2) 0 <= other_obj < 256
>> 3) if 1 and 2, make the comparison instead of returning NotImplemented?
> 
> Immutable objects that compare equal should hash equal;
> so we would also have to change the hashing of byte strings. Not sure
> whether that, in turn, has undesirable consequences.

I thought it was the other-way-round -- if they hash equal, they should 
compare equal?  Or is this just for immutables?

> In addition, equality should be transitive, so b'A' == 65.0.

I'm not sure what you're getting at...  we could certainly have step 2 
check for a number instead of an int, and then step 3 could extract the 
one element, giving an int, and then let that int compare itself with 
the other number, whether it be int, float, fraction, what-have-you.


~Ethan~