Does Python need a '>>>' operator?

[Bengt Richter]

On Tue, 16 Apr 2002 14:03:12 +1200, Greg Ewing <greg at cosc.canterbury.ac.nz> wrote:

>Bengt Richter wrote:
>> 
>> newhex(+7) => 0x7 # implied extension of msb => 0x000...007
>> newhex(-7) => 0x9 # implied extension of msb => 0xfff...ff9
>
>I think that would be very confusing. It's pretty
>subtle that the MSB of the binary equivalent of the
>first hex digit tells you whether the original number
>was positive or negative.

Familiarity breeds private illusions of clarity, I guess ;-)
I accept your point.

>
>If we were to have something like this, I would rather
>see
>
>  newhex(+7) => 0x07
>  newhex(-7) => 0xF9
>
>i.e. the leading hex digit is always either 0 or F.
>
An excellent suggestion!

Unfortunately, we have to worry about backwards compatibility, though,
so it might have to be introduced with 0h prefix instead of 0x.

>Then I would also want an extra arg to hex() for
>specifying how many digits I want.
>
Fine with me, too, if default is normalized to minimal prefixing.

Regards,
Bengt Richter