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

Andrew Koenig ark@research.att.com
03 Apr 2002 14:20:19 -0500

Fredrik> looks pretty consistent to me ;-)

It may look that way, but if the documentation is to be believed, it's just happenstance.

Fredrik> (Python docs tend to use "true" to mean anything which isn't Fredrik> "false", and where operator.truth returns the right thing. Fredrik> this won't change post-PEP -- if you start interpreting Fredrik> "return true" as "return True", you'll be asking for trouble)

Indeed. In other words, the library does not have a consistent convention for what values to return for answers to yes/no questions. A particular implementation may happen to follow such a convention, but it is under no obligation to do so.

-- Andrew Koenig, ark@research.att.com, http://www.research.att.com/info/ark