python 2.3.4 for windows: float("NaN") throws exception

[Peter Hansen]

asmirnov1234567890 at yahoo.com wrote:
> my python 2.3.4 for windows refuse to execute line float("NaN"). It
> says:
> 
>>>>float("NaN")
> 
> Traceback (most recent call last):
> File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
> ValueError: invalid literal for float(): NaN
> 
> The same line works as expected on Linux and Solaris with python 2.3.4.
> Could anybody explain what is possibly wrong here? is it bug or
> feature?

Differences in the underlying platform/C library.  No difference
here with similar platforms.

-Peter