[Python-Dev] Re: PEP 285: Adding a bool type
Guido van Rossum
guido at python.org
Thu Apr 4 09:35:15 EST 2002
[MAL]
> > > Right, but my point is that if you want to make booleans first class
> > > objects in Python, you should consider making them behave as defined
> > > in the text books rather than trying to make them feel like integers
> > > but look like truth values.
[me]
> > I reject this reasoning. Python is not trying to follow the text
> > books. (In fact, maybe I should say "Python is trying not to follow
> > the text books.")
[MAL]
> Uhm, I can't follow you here -- which text books you are talking about
> here (Python has always tried to conform to standards in most areas).
The textbooks that say that a Boolean value does not support
arithmetic operations. In tis discussion several people have tried to
argue for such bools and claimed that that is the textbook definition.
> FWIW, I was talking about the text books students use to learn boolean
> algebra.
I don't think Boolean algebra is a big subject. I bet that most
people only learn about it explicitly when they learn computer
programming.
> BTW, I wonder why you didn't follow up on my other comments...
This thread is way too long to comment on everything. I probably felt
that I'd already responded to the same issue in a different message.
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)
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