[Python-Dev] int() and math.trunc don't accept objects that only define __index__

Rémi Lapeyre remi.lapeyre at henki.fr
Wed Mar 13 06:21:31 EDT 2019


Le 22 février 2019 à 18:14:01, Nick Coghlan
(ncoghlan at gmail.com(mailto:ncoghlan at gmail.com)) a écrit:

> On Fri, 22 Feb 2019 at 18:29, Serhiy Storchaka wrote:
> > Should we add default implementations of __float__ and __complex__ when
> > either __index__ or __int__ is defined? Currently:
> >
> > >>> class A:
> > ... def __int__(self): return 42
> > ...
> > >>> int(A())
> > 42
> > >>> float(A())
> > Traceback (most recent call last):
> > File "", line 1, in
> > TypeError: float() argument must be a string or a number, not 'A'
> > >>> complex(A())
> > Traceback (most recent call last):
> > File "", line 1, in
> > TypeError: complex() first argument must be a string or a number, not 'A'
> >
> > Or just document that in order to have a coherent integer type class,
> > when __index__() or __int__() are defined __float__() and __complex__()
> > should also be defined, and all should return equal values.
>
> I think when __index__ is defined, it would be reasonable to have that
> imply the same floating point conversion rules as are applied for
> builtin ints, since the conversion is supposed to be lossless in that
> case (and if it isn't lossless, that's what `__int__` is for).
> However, I don't think the decision is quite as clearcut as it is for
> `__index__` implying `__int__`.

When __index__ is defined it means that there is a lossless conversion
to int possible. In this case, this means a lossless conversion to
float and complex is also possible (with the exception of overflows
but anyone doing float(var) should expect them). In this case, I think
defining __index__ could set a default for __int__, __float__ and
__complex__.

> Lossy conversions to int shouldn't imply anything about conversions to
> real numbers or floating point values.

I think the right behavior is the other way around, it should go the
other way around from a superset to a subset, when __int__ is defined
__float__ should not have a default set because there might be a
better default than float(int(self)), but when __float__ is defined,
it should be safe to make __int__ default to int(float(self)) if not
defined.

This would simplify this behavior:

Python 3.7.2 (default, Jan 13 2019, 12:50:01)
[Clang 10.0.0 (clang-1000.11.45.5)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> class Test:
...     def __float__(self):
...             return 3.14
...
>>> float(Test())
3.14
>>> int(float(Test()))
3
>>> int(Test())
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: int() argument must be a string, a bytes-like object or a
number, not ‘Test'


Defining __complex__ shouldn’t do anything since they have one more
dimension there is no clear way to convert to ints and floats which is
already the behavior of the the builtin complex type:

>>> int(complex())
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: can't convert complex to int
>>> float(complex())
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: can't convert complex to float


Here’s an implementation of what I’m thinking of:


>>> def finish_class(cls):
...     def set(cls, name, target):
...         if not hasattr(cls, name):
...             setattr(cls, name, target)
...
...     if hasattr(cls, '__index__'):
...         set(cls, '__int__', cls.__index__)
...         set(cls, '__float__', lambda self: float(self.__index__()))
...         set(cls, '__complex__', lambda self: complex(self.__index__(), 0))
...     if hasattr(cls, '__float__'):
...         set(cls, '__int__', lambda self: int(float(self)))
...
>>>
>>> class Test:
...     def __index__(self):
...         return 4
...
>>> finish_class(Test)
>>>
>>> int(Test())
4
>>> float(Test())
4.0
>>> complex(Test())
(4+0j)
>>>
>>> class Test2:
...     def __float__(self):
...         return 3.14
...
>>> finish_class(Test2)
>>>
>>> int(Test2())
3
>>> float(Test2())
3.14


More information about the Python-Dev mailing list