[Python-Dev] Re: PEP 285: Adding a bool type (original) (raw)

Fredrik Lundh fredrik@pythonware.com
Wed, 3 Apr 2002 19:03:24 +0200

andrew wrote:

Fredrik> if you study real python code, you'll find that there is. I mean that the language doesn't prefer a single way, as opposed to programmers' conventions.

it's more than just a convention -- built-in functions and operators always return 0 for false and 1 for true whenever they need to in- vent a boolean value. this is documented in the language reference.

(and if you look inside, there's something called Py_False that's an integer zero, and something called Py_True that is an integer one).

this is also true for the standard library, and lots of major extensions.

also note that the PEP says "The bool type would be a straightforward subtype (in C) of the int type, and the values False and True would behave like 0 and 1 in most respects". Guido didn't pick those values out of thin air...