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

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Thu, 04 Apr 2002 09:35:15 -0500

[MAL]

> > Right, but my point is that if you want to make booleans first class > > objects in Python, you should consider making them behave as defined > > in the text books rather than trying to make them feel like integers > > but look like truth values.

[me]

> I reject this reasoning. Python is not trying to follow the text > books. (In fact, maybe I should say "Python is trying not to follow > the text books.")

[MAL]

Uhm, I can't follow you here -- which text books you are talking about here (Python has always tried to conform to standards in most areas).

The textbooks that say that a Boolean value does not support arithmetic operations. In tis discussion several people have tried to argue for such bools and claimed that that is the textbook definition.

FWIW, I was talking about the text books students use to learn boolean algebra.

I don't think Boolean algebra is a big subject. I bet that most people only learn about it explicitly when they learn computer programming.

BTW, I wonder why you didn't follow up on my other comments...

This thread is way too long to comment on everything. I probably felt that I'd already responded to the same issue in a different message.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)