proposed language change to int/int==float (was: PEP0238 lament)

[Skip Montanaro]

    Marcin> The behavior of ** depends on the exponent which determines the
    Marcin> narrowest type to which base is converted first....  If it's a
    Marcin> rational or float, the base is converted from int or rational to
    Marcin> float.

Hmm...  PEP 240 proposes that numbers matching the regular expression
'\d*.\d*' be interpreted as rationals.  Thus "0.5" would be interpreted as
the rational "5/10" (or perhaps reduced to "1/2").  Using this definition of
rational literal and your coercion semantics, "4**0.5" would yield a float
instead of an integer or rational.  Why shouldn't an integer or rational
base be converted to a rational if the exponent is a rational?

-- 
Skip Montanaro (skip at pobox.com)
http://www.mojam.com/
http://www.musi-cal.com/