New submission from Jim Jewett: https://docs.python.org/3.5/library/stdtypes.html says "Objects of different types, except different numeric types, never compare equal."
Despite the location, this seems to strong a statement, because of subclasses and classes which define __eq__. A first attempt at rewording: Existing: """ Objects of different types, except different numeric types, never compare equal. Furthermore, some types (for example, function objects) support only a degenerate notion of comparison where any two objects of that type are unequal. The <, <=, > and >= operators will raise a TypeError exception when comparing a complex number with another built-in numeric type, when the objects are of different types that cannot be compared, or in other cases where there is no defined ordering. Non-identical instances of a class normally compare as non-equal unless the class defines the __eq__() method. Instances of a class cannot be ordered with respect to other instances of the same class, or other types of object, unless the class defines enough of the methods __lt__(), __le__(), __gt__(), and __ge__() (in general, __lt__() and __eq__() are sufficient, if you want the conventional meanings of the comparison operators). The behavior of the is and is not operators cannot be customized; also they can be applied to any two objects and never raise an exception. Two more operations with the same syntactic priority, in and not in, are supported only by sequence types (below). """ --> """ The is and is not operators can be applied to any pair of objects, and will never raise an exception. They cannot be customized, as they refer to implementation details. (For example, "abc" is "abc" may or may not be true.) Other comparisons refer to an object's meaning, and therefore must be defined by the object's own class. "abc" == "abc" is always True, because the str class defines equality that way. The default implementation uses is (object identity) for equality and raises a TypeError for the ordering comparisons. Defining the __eq__ method allows different instances to be equivalent; also defining the __lt__ method allows them to be ordered in the normal way. Some classes will also define __le__, __ne__, __ge__, and __gt__, either for efficiency or to provide unusual behavior. Except for numbers, instances of two different standard classes will be unequal, and will raise a TypeError when compared for ordering. Two more operations with the same syntactic priority, in and not in, are supported only by sequence types (below). """ ---------- assignee: docs@python components: Documentation messages: 223353 nosy: Jim.Jewett, docs@python priority: normal severity: normal status: open title: cross type comparisons clarification type: behavior versions: Python 3.5 _______________________________________ Python tracker <rep...@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue22000> _______________________________________ _______________________________________________ Python-bugs-list mailing list Unsubscribe: https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-bugs-list/archive%40mail-archive.com
