[Python-Dev] float atime/mtime/ctime - a bad idea?

[Barry A. Warsaw]

>>>>> "GvR" == Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> writes:

    GvR> Most code doesn't care; most 3rd party code will work either
    GvR> way.  Martin proposed adding an option to the stat() call
    GvR> itself first, but that seems a rather heavy-handed way to
    GvR> ensure backwards compatibility for such a very rare
    GvR> situation.

    GvR> If you are using a 3rd party library that breaks due to the
    GvR> floats, you can disable the floats until you've got time to
    GvR> fix it.  You can live with the ints a little longer.

But you may end up ping ponging between floats and ints as you import
new libraries into your app.  If, as you surmise, most code won't
care, then that won't be a real problem.  But if it is, you might see
code like this:

    ostate = os.stat_times()
    os.stat_times(True)
    try:
        # do something requiring float times
    finally:
	os.stat_times(ostate)

Maybe it won't matter in practice, but global state like that always
tickles the gag reflex in me. ;)

-Barry