Issue 5829: float('1e500') -> inf, complex('1e500') -> ValueError (original) (raw)

Created on 2009-04-24 12:26 by mark.dickinson, last changed 2022-04-11 14:56 by admin. This issue is now closed.

Messages (6)
msg86402 - (view)	Author: Mark Dickinson (mark.dickinson) *	Date: 2009-04-24 12:26
In (for example) Python 2.6: >>> float('1e500') inf >>> complex('1e500') Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in ValueError: float() out of range: 1e500 I'd say that one of these is a bug, but I'm not sure which one. Ideally, float('1e500') would raise OverflowError (not ValueError). But it's quite likely that there are people who depend on the current behaviour, and the current behaviour also agrees with what happens for float literals: >>> 1e500 inf For 2.7 and 3.1, I propose fixing the complex constructor so that complex('1e500') produces (inf+0j). For 2.6 and 3.0, I propose leaving the current behaviour as it is.
msg86403 - (view)	Author: Mark Dickinson (mark.dickinson) *	Date: 2009-04-24 12:28
Note: complex('1e-500') also produces ValueError in 2.6. That's definitely a bug.
msg86505 - (view)	Author: Mark Dickinson (mark.dickinson) *	Date: 2009-04-25 13:29
complex('1e-500') bug fixed in r71891 (2.6) and r71892 (3.0). It's already gone in trunk and py3k. What's left is deciding whether the OverflowError that 2.7 and 3.1 currently produce should disappear in favour of producing infinities instead.
msg87861 - (view)	Author: Mark Dickinson (mark.dickinson) *	Date: 2009-05-16 08:24
Patch against py3k. If someone can review this I'll apply it for 3.1; otherwise, it can wait until 3.2.
msg88002 - (view)	Author: Eric V. Smith (eric.smith) *	Date: 2009-05-17 20:55
It looks good to me.
msg88132 - (view)	Author: Mark Dickinson (mark.dickinson) *	Date: 2009-05-20 18:45
Thanks, Eric. Committed in r72803; backported to trunk in r72805.