Immutable and Mutable Types

[Duncan Booth]

Stargaming <stargaming at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:40:43 +0000, Duncan Booth wrote:
>> Here's a puzzle for those who think they know Python:
>> 
>> Given that I masked out part of the input, which version(s) of Python
>> might give the following output, and what might I have replaced by
>> asterisks?
>> 
>>>>> a = 1
>>>>> b = ****
>>>>> if a is b: print 'yes!'
>> ...
>>>>> b
>> 1
>>>>> type(b)
>> <type 'int'>
> 
> I know it! Using CPython 2.5.2a0, 2.6a1+ and 3.0a3+::
> 
>     >>> b = type('type', (type,), {'__repr__': lambda self:
>     ... "<type 'int'>"})('int', (object,), {'__repr__': 
>     ... lambda self:"1"})()
>     >>> b
>     1
>     >>> type(b)
>     <type 'int'>
>     >>> 1 is b
>     False
> 
> What's my prize?

Ok, that one is impressive, I should have thought of putting some more 
checks (like asserting type(a) is type(b)), but then the whole point of 
setting the puzzle was that I expected it to be ripped to shreds. You 
can queue up behind Steven to choose any of the exciting prizes on my 
non-existent prize table.

Meanwhile, I'll fall back on the same quibbling getout I used with 
Steven: too long.