[Python-Dev] Not-a-Number (was PyObject_RichCompareBool identity shortcut) (original) (raw)

Alexander Belopolsky alexander.belopolsky at gmail.com
Fri Apr 29 19:35:41 CEST 2011

On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 1:11 PM, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:

… Would it make sense to add a float context that also lets one specify what should happen? That could include returning Inf for 1.0/0.0 (for experts), or raising exceptions when NaNs are produced (for the numerically naive like myself).

ISTM, this is approaching py4k territory. Adding contexts will not solve backward compatibility problem unless you introduce a "quirks" contexts that would preserve current warts and make it default.

For what it's worth, I think the next major version of Python should use decimal as its main floating point type an leave binary floats to numerical experts.

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