Python "is" behavior

[michalis.avraam at gmail.com]

On Jun 20, 9:38 am, Jean-Paul Calderone <exar... at divmod.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:31:57 -0700 (PDT), michalis.avr... at gmail.com wrote:
> >I am not certain why this is the case, but...
>
> >>>> a = 256
> >>>> b = 256
> >>>> a is b
> >True
>
> >>>> a = 257
> >>>> b = 257
> >>>> a is b
> >False
>
> >Can anyone explain this further? Why does it happen? 8-bit integer
> >differences?
>
> http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2001-November/113994.html
>
> Jean-Paul

Thank you for this Jean-Paul. I did know about the identity of
objects, but my curiosity is based on the 256 number. Are the 2^8
integers cached due to the internal loops, or is there any other
specific reason? Is this something that can be controlled?