On Aug 14, 2006, at 10:56 PM, Guido van Rossum wrote: > > Because the only way to create one (in 2.5 or before) is by passing it > a Python int. >
Is that true? Python 2.4.2 (#2, Jan 13 2006, 12:00:38) >>> xrange(long(2)) xrange(2) > > But since the start and end come from a Python int, what advantage > would it have to use Py_ssize_t instead? We know sizeof(long) <= > sizeof(Py_ssize_t). They don't have to come from a python int, they can come from a long. I guess range_new would have to be changed to the 'n' conversion code instead of 'l' to do the proper conversion. Similarly, rangeiter_next will need to use PyInt_FromSsize_t . > > Blame the C standards committee -- they introduced ssize_t in C99. I've checked in the Wiley's 2003 edition of "The C Standard" and it does not have ssize_t . I could not find anything suggesting that it is in the C standard on google either. Are you sure it is in C99? > >> On the second look, I've realized that it is signed >> and started wondering why not ptrdiff_t. > > Because it is not used for the difference of pointers? After being exposed to C++, ptrdiff_t (or more generally difference_type) is what I expect as an argument of a [] operator that allows negative indices (such as operator[] of C++ iterators). > > Frankly, you're about 6 months too late with naming concerns. I know :-( I'll shut up now. _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
