PEP 285: Adding a bool type

Chris Barker Chris.Barker at noaa.gov
Tue Apr 2 12:18:32 EST 2002


Paul Rubin wrote:
> > if string.find(...):
> >       do something.
> 
> Are you proposing to start making 0 resolve as true?  If not, returning
> False has the same problem as returning None.

Yes, I am. I realise that there is far too much history in both Computer
Science in general and Python in particular for it to ever happen, but I
do think that that is how it should be in the ideal language. The
concept of True or False is distinct from the concept of a number, and
I'd like to see it stay that way in the language.

Yes, you would be writing a lot of 

if bool(expression):

rather than

if expression:

But I think it would be much more clear and less awkward.

-Chris




-- 
Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
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