[Python-Dev] PEP 515: Underscores in Numeric Literals

[Andrew Barnert]

On Feb 11, 2016, at 00:22, Georg Brandl <g.brandl at gmx.net> wrote:
> 
> Allowing underscores in string arguments to the ``Decimal`` constructor.  It
>  could be argued that these are akin to literals, since there is no Decimal
>  literal available (yet).

I'm +1 on this. Partly for consistency (see below)--but also, one of the use cases for Decimal is when you need more precision than float, meaning you'll often have even more digits to separate.

> * Allowing underscores in string arguments to ``int()`` with base argument 0,
>  ``float()`` and ``complex()``.

+1, because these are actually defined in terms of literals. For example, under int, "Base 0 means to interpret exactly as a code literal". This isn't actually quite true, because "-2" is not an integer literal but is accepted here--but see float for an example that *is* rigorously defined, and still defers to literal syntax and semantics.
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