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    <p>What I was trying to say was:  I think of <br>
    </p>
    <p>    ValueError as applying to a single ("bad") value</p>
    <p>    whereas ArithmeticError can arise from trying to combine
      multiple ("good") values.  It wouldn't be appropriate for
      ArithmeticError to be a subclass of ValueError, because there is
      no single erroneous value that you can point to.<br>
    </p>
    <br>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 25/05/2016 09:08, Rob Cliffe wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote
      cite="mid:0239b3c2-f795-6418-5b27-f61673c8f643@btinternet.com"
      type="cite">
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      <p>Or more generally, any operation on multiple values, where each
        value is valid individually, but the result of the operation is
        not:</p>
      <p>>>> p = Decimal('1E999999999')</p>
      <p>>>> q = Decimal('10')</p>
      <p>>>> try:</p>
      <p>...     p*q</p>
      <p>... except ArithmeticError:</p>
      <p>...     print 'ArithmeticError'</p>
      <p>...</p>
      <p>ArithmeticError<br>
      </p>
      <p><br>
      </p>
      <br>
      <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 25/05/2016 06:48, Guido van Rossum
        wrote:<br>
      </div>
      <blockquote
cite="mid:CAP7+vJLbiF0QnqBZLppHN8R5q8te6aFZ3UfXSRvt9O8VFqgTmg@mail.gmail.com"
        type="cite">Well, ZeroDivisionError doesn't derive from
        ValueError, does it? So it may not be a good idea, but it's
        certainly a tradition.<br>
        <br>
        On Tuesday, May 24, 2016, Greg Ewing <<a
          moz-do-not-send="true"
          href="mailto:greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz">greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz</a></a>>
        wrote:<br>
        <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
          .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Guido van
          Rossum wrote:<br>
          <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
            .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> It's very<br>
            common for modules to define their own root exception class.<br>
          </blockquote>
          <br>
          And it's a nuisance when their exceptions only belong<br>
          to their own private hierarchy and don't participate in<br>
          any the standard classifications.<br>
          <br>
          I don't think Decimal is directly to blame here, because<br>
          deriving its exceptions from ArithmeticError seems like<br>
          a reasonable thing to do. What *doesn't* seem reasonable<br>
          to me is that ArithmeticError doesn't derive from<br>
          ValueError. So far nobody has explained why that's<br>
          a good idea.<br>
          <br>
          -- <br>
          Greg<br>
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        <br>
        <br>
        -- <br>
        --Guido (mobile)<br>
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