PEP 285: Adding a bool type

[Boris Borcic]

Ken Seehof wrote:

replying to Jacob Hallén :

>>...The hard thing to
>>teach is how to interpret a "Type mismatch error" and why unexpected
>>automatic conversions happen. Automatic conversions are a pitfall even for
>>very seasoned programmers.


Who can deny this in good faith ? Reminds me that I reported
SNOBOL reporting "String Arithmetic Not Implemented" instead of
"Integer Overflow". Very confusing, but almost OO :)


> 
> Properly used bools will tend not to interact with other numeric types in
> practice.  Anyway, a TypeError won't occur.


As I get it, the PEP's bools are not intended to change anything to 
homeland python, but simply to endow it with proper diplomatic 
credentials when dispatching secretaries of State to the middle east.

TypeErrors might still occur if the resident programmer then insists on 
dispatching the wrong types for the mission, I guess.


>>the complexity is going to drive Pythons core supporters - the biologists,
>>physicists, astronomers, sociologists and other scientists - to look for
>>other alternatives, that require less work to understand.


I guess industrial age scientists will not find it so hard to
understand a feature destined to better translate the quirks
of "remotely controlled devices" to a transparent exception.

Boris Borcic
--
python >>> filter(lambda W : W not in "ILLITERATE","BULLSHIT")