Extention to the integer class.

[Gregoire Welraeds]

In reply to the message of Steve Holden sent on Mar 13 (see below) :

> As you may know, these aren't quite the same kind of objects as those
> classes you define yourself.
I didn't knew that ... G

> However, if you look in Section 3 of the Python library reference
> you will find UserList, which is a wrappered version of the built-in
> list type.  If you inspect the code you may be able to do what you
> want by extending UserList so when the __getitem__ method is called
> with an Int it extracts the Int's __val attribute and uses that.

This is a rather good solution... I can't extend the Integer class but I
can simulate the List behavior. quite cool. :)
I'm on my way to implement this solution.

Thanks
--
... is not fair
But the root password helps
--

Gregoire Welraeds
greg at perceval.be
Perceval Development team
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On Mon, 13 Mar 2000, Steve Holden wrote:

> Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 14:43:59 GMT
> From: Steve Holden <sholden at bellatlantic.net>
> To: python-list at python.org
> Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
> Subject: Re: Extention to the integer class.
> 
> Gregoire Welraeds wrote:
> > 
> > Hello pythoniens!
> > 
> > I got a question for you...
> > 
> > I want to extend the integer class to add two stupid methods :
> > i.i(x)  # inc i with x or with 1 if x is not present
> > i.d(x)  # dec i of x or of 1 if x is not present
> > 
> When you say "extend the integer class", do you mean "extend the
> Python built-in integer type"?  As you may know, these aren't quite
> the same kind of objects as those classes you define yourself.
> 
> > So I have done the following class :
> > class Int:
> >         def __init__(self,value):
> >                 self.__val= value
> >         def __cmp__(self, value):
> >                 if self.__val < value:
> >                         return -1
> >                 elif self.__val == value:
> >                         return 0
> >                 else: return 1
> >         def i(self, value= 1):
> >                 self.__val= self.__val + value
> >                 return self.__val
> >         def d(self, value= 1):
> >                 self.__val= self.__val - value
> >                 return self.__val
> > 
> > Now this work with :
> > i = i+a         => i.i(a)
> > i = i-a         => i.d(a)
> > i++             => i.i()
> > i--             => i.d()
> 
> ... where i is an Int and a is an integer ...
> 
> > Thanks to the __cmp__() methods, it also work with :
> > i < a
> > i >= a
> > i <= a
> > i > a
> > ...
> > 
> ... where i is an Int and a is an integer ...
> 
> > But It fails when i use i as an index in a list ex: list[i]
> 
> Presumably with "TypeError: sequence index must be integer"
> 
> This is because the sequence types (strings, lists and tuples)
> do not know what to do with an Int as a subscript.  And, like
> the integers, the basic sequence types are built-in and hence
> not quite first-class objects.
> 
> The implementation crew seem to have spent a lot of time
> discussing the implications of this differentiation between
> built-in types and programmer-defined objects, because
> the distinction leads to the kinds of nastinaess you have run
> into.  I'm not up to speed on any planned changes, however.
> 
> > I could create a get method :
> >         def get(self):
> >                 return self.__val
> > but it is very poor since each time i is a index, i have to write i.get().
> > ex: list[i.get]
> > 
> Yes, list[i.get()] is indeed a poor substitute for list[i] ...
> 
> > So my question is double :
> >         can I extend the Integer class to add inc and dec ?
> >         Is there a way to write i and have the interpreter understand
> >         i.get() or something similar (as it may do with plain integer) ?
> > 
> 
> It would appear that the sequence object access methods do not allow
> automatic coercions to integer.  In other words
> 
> 	(1,2,3)["1"]
> 
> will also give a TypeError, even though it "seems obvious" that the
> string should be coerced to an integer and used as a subscript.
> 
> I can think of nothing that might persuade Python to run an object
> method when only its name is given.  The name of an object instance
> more or less has ro be usable to refer to the whole object -- how,
> otherwise, could you have
> 
> 	i.d()
> 
> extract the d() method from the object i?  So you might have to
> accept a little disappointment here...
> 
> However, if you look in Section 3 of the Python library reference
> you will find UserList, which is a wrappered version of the built-in
> list type.  If you inspect the code you may be able to do what you
> want by extending UserList so when the __getitem__ method is called
> with an Int it extracts the Int's __val attribute and uses that.
> 
> > I understand that the interest of the goal is somewhat limited... but
> > thanks :))
> > 
> 
> comp.lang.python is one of the few places where the readership's
> taste is still reliably catholic (note the lack of capitalisation).
> There's even a current thread on Forth interpreter implementation
> strategies, so I hardly think you're way off base here: at least
> you are discussing Python!
> 
> > --
> > Life is not fair
> > But the root password helps
> > --
> 
> "Life?  Don't talk to me about life.  I'[ve got this pain in all
> the diodes down my left side."  Marvin the paranoid android, in
> "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".
> 
> > 
> > Gregoire Welraeds
> > greg at perceval.be
> > Perceval Development team
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Perceval Technologies sa/nv     Tel: +32-2-6409194
> > Rue Tenbosch, 9                 Fax: +32-2-6403154
> > B-1000 Brussels                 general information:   info at perceval.net
> > BELGIUM                         technical information: helpdesk at perceval.net
> > URL: http://www.perceval.be/
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> regards
>  Steve
> --
> "If computing ever stops being fun, I'll stop doing it"
> -- 
> http://www.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
> 
>