[Python-Dev] Caching float(0.0)

[Jason Orendorff]

On 9/29/06, Fredrik Lundh <fredrik at pythonware.com> wrote:
> (I just checked the program I'm working on, and my analysis tells me
> that the most common floating point value in that program is 121.216,
> which occurs 32 times.  from what I can tell, 0.0 isn't used at all.)

*bemused look*  Fredrik, can you share the reason why this number
occurs 32 times in this program?  I don't mean to imply anything by
that; it just sounds like it might be a fun story.  :)

Anyway, this kind of static analysis is probably more entertaining
than relevant.  For your enjoyment, the most-used float literals in
python25\Lib, omitting test directories, are:

1e-006: 5 hits
4.0: 6 hits
0.05: 7 hits
6.0: 8 hits
0.5: 13 hits
2.0: 25 hits
0.0: 36 hits
1.0: 62 hits

There are two hits each for -1.0 and -0.5.

In my own Python code, I don't even have enough float literals to bother with.

-j