Comment on PEP-0238

[Bengt Richter]

On Sat, 07 Jul 2001 13:33:55 GMT, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org>
wrote:
[...]
>The "div" keyword would be ideal except for the added complexity of
>adding a new keyword to the language -- do we need a separate warning
>phase here, too?
>
>(Hm.  For various reasons I'm very tempted to introduce 'yield' as a
>new keyword without warnings or future statements in Python 2.2, so
>maybe I should bite the bullet and add 'div' as well...)

What about a 'special' keyword for special semantic scoping,
to control meanings within a block, e.g.,

special use_integer_defaults:
    x = 1/2    # makes zero because of special scope

special use_rationals, use_auto_bignums:
    x = 1/2    # makes rational in pref to float
    x <<= 65   # auto promotion to long of numerator

# back to (proposed) normal
x = 1/2        # makes float 0.5 as normal default

This is not exactly PEP-ready, but I thought I'd offer the idea.
Maybe 'special' might also have natural tie-ins to migration issues?

BTW, should I have posted this under a new heading?