Python 2.3: int() ?

[Carsten Gaebler]

Hi there,

I just read the 2.3 'highlights' page on python org, and I'm a bit 
confused: it says '# int() - this can now return a long when converting 
a string with many digits, rather than raising OverflowError.'

What does 'can' mean here? Can I switch between returning a long or 
raising an exception?

cg.