Bugs item #1495229, was opened at 2006-05-26 01:33 Message generated for change (Comment added) made by loewis You can respond by visiting: https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=105470&aid=1495229&group_id=5470
Please note that this message will contain a full copy of the comment thread, including the initial issue submission, for this request, not just the latest update. Category: Documentation Group: Python 2.5 Status: Open Resolution: None Priority: 5 Submitted By: Mike Brown (mike_j_brown) Assigned to: Martin v. Löwis (loewis) Summary: W3C <-> Python DOM type mapping docs need updating Initial Comment: I believe the information at http://docs.python.org/lib/dom-type-mapping.html is outdated; most if not all boolean return values, at least in minidom, are handled as BooleanType, not IntegerType. This should be standard. Sorry, I don't have a patch to submit for this. Should be an easy fix though. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >Comment By: Martin v. Löwis (loewis) Date: 2006-07-30 09:25 Message: Logged In: YES user_id=21627 I agree with Fred that the documentation is not wrong as it stands. As this section is meant to apply not only to minidom, but to all Python DOM implementations, I don't think the specification can be changed. minidom would probably still comply (except perhaps for the "specified" attribute), but other implementations might comply anymore. If clarification is needed, it should go beyond boolean: What is "IntegerType"? There is no type with that name in Python, and, indeed, "unsigned long" cannot alway map to types.IntType; unsigned long long (used for DOMTimeStamp) and unsigned short don't get mapped at all in the table. I think the intention is this: for the "proper" IDL integer types (short, long, long long, +unsigned), both Python int and long can be used. For boolean, int, long, and bool can be used; on input, any non-zero value counts as true, and on output, only 0 or 1 should be returned (where bool(0) is False and bool(1) is True). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Comment By: Fred L. Drake, Jr. (fdrake) Date: 2006-07-30 06:56 Message: Logged In: YES user_id=3066 My position on this is that: 1) The docs are not wrong. 2) The docs should be updated to indicate that bool values are returned where appropriate. 3) It is reasonable that Python developers know the relationship between bool and int. That is not something that can reasonably change in Python 2.x. It seems unlikely to change for Python 3000. 4) The strict application of the IDL mapping really hasn't helped in creating a good DOM-like interface for Python. Dealing with the last item isn't within scope for handling this issue. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Comment By: Mike Brown (mike_j_brown) Date: 2006-06-03 23:01 Message: Logged In: YES user_id=371366 If answer #1 is chosen and the others rejected, then the docs remain misleading, since the average reader just wants to know what types to expect from an implementation (or should code into their implementation), and shouldn't be expected to know the relationship between Booleans and integers. Is it even reasonable to expect that this relationship will always be true? In any case, I'd rather see it made explicit as to why minidom doesn't seem, at first, to respect the type mapping, at least in current implementations. It could be as simple as adding Andrew's comment, phrased as "This DOM mapping is derived from the IDL mapping for Python, which predates the introduction of BooleanType, which is currently a subtype of IntegerType. Implementations may use either type." or some such. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Comment By: A.M. Kuchling (akuchling) Date: 2006-06-03 22:42 Message: Logged In: YES user_id=11375 Martin, you probably need to make a pronouncement on this. The DOM mapping is supposed to be derived from the IDL mapping for Python, which predates Booleans, but methods such as hasChildNodes() return True/False. I can see at least three answers: 1) Booleans are subtypes of integers, so the docs are not wrong. 2) The docs are wrong and should say Boolean. 3) The methods should be returning regular 0 and 1, not True and False, and should be changed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can respond by visiting: https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=105470&aid=1495229&group_id=5470 _______________________________________________ Python-bugs-list mailing list Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-bugs-list/archive%40mail-archive.com
