prePEP: Decimal data type

[Alex Martelli]

John Roth wrote:
   ...
> Alex, this whole pissing match started because *YOU* assumed,
> without any justification that I could see, that I was suggesting that
> we use rational numbers.

-- you wanted (and want) unlimited precision
-- all you had to say about division was "OK"

it follows that rational numbers are _inevitably_ necessary.

If you can't see that 2 plus 2 is 4, that's YOUR fault, not mine.

Similarly, if you can't see "any justification" for somebody "assuming"
(HA) that when you say you want 2 plus 2, you've essentially *SAID* you 
want 4, you need a course in logic and commonsense.

> I have attempted to set this straight in the next post on the other
> chain of this thread. You're the one that made the blunder. You're
> the one that owes me the appology.

I entirely disagree with your assertion.  YOU "made the blunder", as you so
charmingly put it, by just OK'ing something which could NOT possibly be OK
within the way you conceived your proposal -- you accepted division AND
still argued for unlimited precision, THEREFORE what you were advocating
HAD, inevitably, to include rationals (by whatever name or possibly
roundabout implementation, who cares).

You didn't think things through, is how you put it in another post.
Very well, but then that is entirely *YOUR* fault, NOT mine.  If you
ask for 2+2 because you haven't bothered to think things through, it's
NOT "a blunder" of any kind on my part to claim that you've asked for 4:
it's a blunder on YOUR part not to have considered the obvious, and
it is gross rudeness to accuse others of "blunders" and demand apologies
because of YOUR failings and mistakes.

But then, I somehow find this goes very fittingly with your advocacy
that x+"23" should NOT rase an exception when x is a decimal, even though
it DOES raise an exception when x is an int, a long, a float, a complex
(current status on the matter, you claim it's "discussable", I think,
rather than admitting it's OBVIOUSLY absurd).

Such idiotic notions, and behavior as incredibly rude as you are
displaying, may often go hand in hand, I've noticed.


Alex