why the inconsistency?

[Ben Finney]

On 23 Sep 2003 18:04:33 -0700, mensanator wrote:
>>>> print `2**64`
> 18446744073709551616L
> 
> Why is the "L" there? I thought "L" isn't used anymore?

To answer this directly: because you've asked for the result of

    repr( 2**64 )

which, as demonstrated, is showing you that the number is stored as a
long integer (since the point of repr() is to show you information about
the type of the object as well as its value).

I believe the `foo` syntax is deprecated in favour of repr( foo ), no?
If you'd used repr(), perhaps the assumption would have become
apparent.

-- 
 \         "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a |
  `\                     dog, it's too dark to read."  -- Groucho Marx |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney <http://bignose.squidly.org/>