Some Python (Monty) Perspective (was Re: Language change and code breaks)

[Grant Edwards]

In article <ni92mt4a7e2k64b1vn6rm0jaqlkf525mjp at 4ax.com>, Stephen Horne wrote:

>>I think that not allowing ints and floats to be mixed would
>>make it a better lanauge, but that would probably hurt even
>>more users.
>
>I'm not sure about this. It would mean replacing a lot of
>implicit casts with exceptions. Code would break for sure, but
>it would break by refusing to work at all - not by causing
>trusted apps to give bad results.

I'm sure it _would_ be a much more painful change.  That was my
point.  An argument could be made that mixing ints and floats
is A Bad Thing(tm).  But, even if we bought that argument it
would be such a disruptive change that it wouldn't be worth
implimenting.

>On the whole I don't mind implicit casts - fully strong typing
>can obscure logic too much with too many explicit casts (and as
>casts don't normally specify which type they are converting
>from, each cast weakens the supposedly strong typing anyway).

I attempt to never use implicit casting -- in C I make sure
lint complains when I do.  I'm sure I'm sloppier in Python.
[Actually, it's been a couple years since I used a float in a C
program...]

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  I'm having
                                  at               a tax-deductible
                               visi.com            experience! I need an
                                                   energy crunch!!