PEP0238 lament

[Stephen Horne]

On Sun, 22 Jul 2001 17:40:10 GMT, sill at optonline.net (Rainy) wrote:

>First of all, it's really ugly. It's the ugliest thing in python for a newbie,
>imho. Yes, 1/2 is 0. You have to type 1.0/2 to get 0.5. No, there is no good
>reason for that, just memorize it. Ugh.

No reason!

Every five-year-old knows that 5 divided by 2 is 2 remainder 1. What
is the problem?

Integer division *is* important. Confusing integers and floats is a
sign of sloppy thinking, and a clue that far more bugs are going to
result.

Furthermore, Python is unlikely to *ever* be the only computer
language, and most Python users use other languages as well - that is
the nature of scripting languages. Surely we should comply with
conventions used in the languages we know are unlikely to die - those
which are already popular multi-vendor languages, and those which have
such powerful single-vendor backing that they are unlikely to
disappear. That means the likes of C, C++, Java and Visual BASIC. And
what about the languages web developers are used to, such as VBScript
and JavaScript.