Semantics of ==

[Erik Max Francis]

Axel Boldt wrote:

> ...and then it can run into an infinite loop. I explained that for the
> example s==w in the part you deleted. The recursion does not always
> have a base case; the rule does not always give a definite truth
> value.

But the == operator doesn't run into an infinite loop, so this is much
ado about nothing.

> ... i.e. such a fun case. If there really is an implementation
> dependency hidden in something as fundamental as == for lists, that'd
> better be mentioned in the language reference.

I don't know what you're talking about here.  The behavior you saw with
your s == w example is completely consistent with Python's definition of
equality and Python's definition of equal sequences.  You have some
additional equivalence in your mind that simply does not apply to
Python.

> > How can you define the value of an arbitrary object without
> > reference to
> > its internal structure?
> 
> Well, you claim that s and w have the same value yet different
> internal structure, so you must work with some definition of "value"
> that's different from internal structure. I don't know what it is, and
> the language reference doesn't fully specify it.

1 and 1.0 have different internal structure, but they're equal.  This is
an obvious existence proof that Python simply does not follow the
equivalence that you're thinking of.

Equality does _not_ indicate equivalence in internal structure in
Python.  This is especially true in Python where users can define their
own equality behavior, so you can make it whatever you want -- you can
make your own instance that compares equal (or unequal) with absolutely
everything.  If 1 == 1.0 didn't convince you, surely this will convince
you that equality and equivalence in internal structure are not related
in Python.

> I.e., I'm interesting in a function val : lists -> strings with the
> property val(l1) == val(l2) iff l1 == l2. That would also considerably
> clarify the semantics of == for lists, which I still don't understand.

Why are you interested in such a function?

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