Hello David, > Is there a standard approach to enumerated types? I could create a > dictionary with a linear set of keys, but isn't this overkill? There is > afterall a "True" and "False" enumeration for Boolean. Google for Python + enum. (A good one is: http://www.norvig.com/python-iaq.html) > Is there a way to ignore case in string comparisons? I want 'Oranges' to > equal 'oranges' when using the evaluation operator (==). I don't care about > string inequalities (<, >) s1.lower() == s2.lower() > If I am compelled to use dictionaries for enumerated types, is there a way > to generate unique keys automatically: something like > "myDict.appendWithAutoKey("Persimmons")"? http://docs.python.org/lib/typesmapping.html and "setdefault" > Is there a way to overload operators to accommodate an enumeration? For > example, > > newFruit = enumerationFruit('Cumquat') #use it like you would use > list() > new = newFruit + 14 # this should throw an exception because of > different types http://www.python.org/doc/2.3.4/ref/numeric-types.html
> Finally, (for now at least) consider the following list. > > myList = [apple, 13, plum, cherry, 'Spam', tomato, 3.35] > > Exactly how does the "for x in myList" work? It binds 'x' in the body of the loop to each item in sequence. > Wouldn't you think that an iterative would have the "sense" to understand > that in this limited scope if a method didn't apply to the iterator just > "fail" (i.e. evaluate to False) the evaluation and move along? How would it konw that a method don't apply to an object? > Do I have to manually interrogate each iteration > for the proper type before I test? Yes. Or you can filter the sequence: for x in [i for i in list if type(i) == type(1)] > Think about it; the interpreter has to evaluate disparate types for > equality. How exactly does the it "know" that for this iteration, x is an > integer, and the evaluation (if x == 'spam') is False, and doesn't throw an > exception for a type mismatch? Python is strongly type in the sense that each object has a type. I don't remember exactly how does Python resolve operators and methods, but if it's can't find one for == it'll return False (IMO). Bye. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Miki Tebeka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://tebeka.bizhat.com The only difference between children and adults is the price of the toys -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
