[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
John Machin wrote:
I regard continued usage of octal as a pox and a pestilence.
Quite agree. I was disappointed that it ever made it into Python.
Octal's only use is:
a) umasks b) confusing the hell out of normal non-programmers for whom a leading zero is in no way magic
(a) does not outweigh (b).
In Mythical Future Python I would like to be able to use any base in integer literals, which would be better. Example random syntax:
flags= 2x00011010101001 umask= 8x664 answer= 10x42 addr= 16x0E800004 # 16x == 0x gunk= 36x8H6Z9A0X
But either way, I want rid of 0->octal.
Is it not regretted?
Maybe the problem just doesn't occur to people who have used C too long.
:-)
OT: Also, if Google doesn't stop lstrip()ing my posts I may have to get a proper news feed. What use is that on a Python newsgroup? Grr.
I remember using a langauge (Icon?) in which arbitrary bases up to 36 could be used with numeric literals. IIRC, the literals had to begin with the base in decimnal, folowed by a "b" followed by the digits of the value using a through z for digits from ten to thirty-five. So
gunk = 36b8H6Z9A0X
would have been valid.
nothing-new-under-the-sun-ly y'rs - steve -- Steve Holden http://www.holdenweb.com/ Python Web Programming http://pydish.holdenweb.com/ Holden Web LLC +1 703 861 4237 +1 800 494 3119
-- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
