[Python-Dev] For review: PEP 285: Adding a bool type

Jason Orendorff jason@jorendorff.com
Fri, 8 Mar 2002 13:33:48 -0600


Guido van Rossum wrote:
> > I would prefer these constants to be named "true" and "false",
> > respectively.
> 
> But all other built-in constants have an initial capital letter: None,
> NotImplemented, Ellipsis, ...

True.

But this isn't as compelling as it might be, since None is the only
one that enjoys common non-guru usage.  It only counts as consistency
if other people notice and remember the pattern.

The pattern people really care about is:

  C99:        true    false
  C++:        true    false
  C#:         true    false
  Java:       true    false
  JavaScript: true    false

(I can't find other case-sensitive languages with boolean types
to compare.)

I also think repr(false) should return a randomly chosen line from
an insults file.  This makes the interactive prompt funnier:

  >>> 1 == 1
  true
  >>> 1 == 17
  LIAR!!!

## Jason Orendorff    http://www.jorendorff.com/