Is this a good idea or a waste of time?

[Jonathan Gardner]

Simon Forman wrote:
>
> If you have a reason to restrict your code to using only ints (perhaps
> you're packing them into an array of some sort, or passing them to a C
> extension module) then yes, of course it's appropriate.

I politely disagree. Rather than an interface that demands an actual
int, demand something that can be typecast as an int.

For instance:

  def needsInt(i):
    i = int(i)
    ... pass i to an internal c function that requires an int ...
    # Or better yet, write your internal c function to take any Python
object and cast it into an int.

If you absolutely need a particular type of thing, then cast it into
that thing.