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

Tim Peters tim.one@comcast.net
Sat, 09 Mar 2002 01:37:51 -0500

[Guido]

... (I've seen lots of code defining constants True and False or variations), what's missing is a standard way so everybody can do it the same way.

That's what drove C99 to standardize a bool type. Indeed, Python may be the only non-trivial C project I've worked on that didn't #define its own boolean gimmick for internal use.

I'd like to note too that a Boolean concept is needed all over the place, despite that it's not an official type. It shows up in docstrings even now:

print hasattr.doc hasattr(object, name) -> Boolean ...

import os print os.isatty.doc isatty(fd) -> Boolean ...

That's not an exhaustive list, just a tease.