Against PEP 240

[Alex Martelli]

"Tim Peters" <tim.one at home.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.991286334.8257.python-list at python.org...
> [Alex Martelli]
> > ...
> > I wish all Pythonistas had a modicum of experience teaching Python
> > to newbies that are skeptical enough of techies to NOT be sold a bill
> > of goods.  Just TRY to explain:
> >
> > D:\py21>python
> > Python 2.1 (#15, Apr 16 2001, 18:25:49) [MSC 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
> > Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
> > Alternative ReadLine 1.1 -- Copyright 2001, Chris Gonnerman
>
> Heh!  I'm baffled already:  where did "1.1" come from?

http://newcenturycomputers.net/projects/readline.html -- he's
got a 1.2 out, actually.


> > >>> 7.35
> > 7.3499999999999996
> >
> > to three such people to which you have been promoting Python as a
> > language easy to use AND UNDERSTAND.  Now they find out that, to
> > deal with such an elementary concept as "7 dollars and 35 cents",
> > they first have to get a major in advanced computer science, else
> > BY DEFAULT 7.35 does not MEAN 7.35, it means 7.34999 etc.
>
> You can in large part blame me for the display.  I've been fighting tooth
> and nail not to go back to *displaying* 7.345 in this case (and, of
course,

Credit, not blame.  Sorry if I didn't make this clear: I do *NOT*
believe it's an acceptable solution to *HIDE* the dark deep truth
that 7.35 isn't 7.35, by default -- I see it as eminently correct
and proper that repr() *does its job*.  sys.displayhook exists for
those who don't want repr() called by the interactive interpreter...


> So on this issue I take the heat, agreeing with Kahan that artificially
> pretty display is "a pious fraud" that just leads to worse problems.  So

I'll stand right behind you and Kahan on this one (so you two
shield me from the bullets:-).


Alex