On 10/26/07, Greg Ewing <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Jim Jewett wrote:
> > If it weren't for backwards compatibility, 'i' would be a much better
> > option,
> No, it wouldn't, because 'integer' is a data type, not
> a display format. The Python format codes specify display
> formats, not data types.
I think that distinction is splitting hairs.
(1) Even to a programmer, there may not be much difference between
"%f" prints it as a float
and
"%f" means to convert it to a float and print that
(If anything, the docs support the second definition.)
(2) To most people, all numbers are base-10, and using another base
is just a silly affectation, like pig-latin.
Decimal doesn't mean "base 10", it means "has a decimal point", and
contrasts with both fractions and integers.
Programmers have typically been exceptions, but I'm not sure how true
that will remain in the future. Octal is already a wart that causes
more bugs that it prevents. Hex is still useful. In another
half-generation, I'm not so sure.
It is *probably* too early to drop support for %d as "Signed integer
decimal" rather than "Decimal". But I believe the docs would already
be improved by changing the definition table at
http://docs.python.org/lib/typesseq-strings.html from
d Signed integer decimal.
i Signed integer decimal.
to
d Signed integer decimal. Currently an alias for i.
i Signed integer decimal.
-jJ
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