[Python-Dev] Shortcut bugfix (original) (raw)

M.-A. Lemburg mal@lemburg.com
Tue, 18 Mar 2003 10:50:29 +0100

Raymond Hettinger wrote:

The shortcut is to fix something that isn't broken and have string.atoi stop automatically appending the ten to the int() call.

Current string.atoi: def atoi(s, base=10): return int(s, base) Proposed string.atoi: def atoi(s, *args): return int(s, *args) The shortcut has some appeal because it lets the improvements to tkinter stay in place and allows existing Pmw installations to continue to operate. Otherwise, one of the two has to change. Does anyone think changin string.atoi is the wrong way to go?

Yes, because it changes the semantics. string.atoi() would suddenly start to accept non-strings like integers, floats, etc.

My suggestion would be to carefully reconsider the changes to _tkinter. If it's true that a method can now return strings and integers which previously only returned strings, then such a change is clearly not backward compatible. I'd create a new method for the new semantics in that case.

-- Marc-Andre Lemburg eGenix.com

Professional Python Software directly from the Source (#1, Mar 18 2003)

Python/Zope Products & Consulting ... http://www.egenix.com/ mxODBC, mxDateTime, mxTextTools ... http://python.egenix.com/

Python UK 2003, Oxford: 14 days left EuroPython 2003, Charleroi, Belgium: 98 days left