A quick check of the source code reveals that this behaviour is deliberate. There is apparently an issue with the corner case breaking badly (potentially raising an exception) on some platforms. So, Python plays it safe and converts the two boundary cases to Python longs instead of Python ints.
See the code for the gory details (the relevant function is 'float_int'): http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/python/python/dist/src/Objects/floatobject.c?rev=2.134&view=markup
Cheers, Nick.
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Nick Coghlan | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Brisbane, Australia
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http://boredomandlaziness.skystorm.net
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