PEP 285: Adding a bool type

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

>>>>> "Erik" == Erik Max Francis <max at alcyone.com> writes:

    Erik> Guido van Rossum wrote:

    >> That's an interesting response, because it highlights what I
    >> think is the main misunderstanding about the PEP.  You should
    >> think of it a very *small* change!

I do now ...

    Erik> The something-vs.-nothing objection seems to be missing the
    Erik> point.  The addition of bool does not affect what truth and
    Erik> falsity mean in Python, it just adds another explicit set of
    Erik> values for use when that is all you mean to talk about.

... and of course Guido has said that all along, but ...

    Erik> I'm really surprised at the volume of objections to a change
    Erik> that can only help make code clearer and will have very few
    Erik> compatibility ramifications.

... (1) if you are not a language implementer (and even if one's done
a bit of it oneself), adding a Whole New Builtin Type looks like a
BFD, not a "very *small* change", which makes (2) the many attempts to
hijack the PEP into the opening wedge of a full boolixing up<wink> of
Python look very plausible.  If there were a serious possibility of
boolixation, then "something-vs.-nothing" _would_ be the central issue.
(It wasn't just the "education faction" that missed the point.)

FWIW, I think that's why I didn't "get" it until a couple hours ago.
I don't know if it accounts for anyone else's thinking, of course.

I still think both Alex's and Laura's posts were terrific, and
important contributions to my Pythonic understanding.  And they'll
provide lots of ammunition in the never-ending battle against the
demon "if x is True: ..."!

Can-introspecting-confusion-ever-help-clarify-ing-ly y'rs,

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