A rational proposal

[Terry Reedy]

"Mike Meyer" <mwm at mired.org> wrote in message 
news:863by3sbnt.fsf at guru.mired.org...
>>> Title: A rational number module for Python
>> <snip>

1. I would call this Not Necessary but Nice.  Perhaps the time has come to 
include rationals in the Standard Library, given that its expansion will be 
a focus of the 2.5 cycle.  It certainly seems time to have such a PEP 
pushed to a formal decision.

To increase the chance of getting BDFL approval, you might search clp and 
especially pydev archives for Guido's (and maybe other developers') past 
objections and prepare to meet them.  I vaguely remember things like too 
specialized and not needed enough, need already met by third party modules, 
and the inherent clumbsiness of exact rational calculations (due to length 
growth of 'ators and the time needed to remove common factors, if one 
does).

2. The initial and debugged implementation should be in Python at least 
until the interface and behavioral specs are finalized.  Beside the obvious 
reasons, this will help the PyPy project which is currently being slowed a 
bit by the needed to rewrite C-coded modules in Python.

Terry J. Reedy