On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 7:01 PM, Antoine Pitrou
That's different. Python doesn't assign any semantic meaning to the characters in identifiers. The non-latin support for numerals, though, could change the meaning of a program dramatically and needs to be well-specified. Whether int() should do this is debatable.
Perhaps int(), float(), Decimal() and friends could take an optional parameter indicating whether non-ascii digits are considered. It would then satisfy all parties.
What parties? I don't think anyone has claimed to actually have used non-ASCII digits with float(). Of course it is fun that Python can process Bengali numerals, but so would be allowing Roman numerals. There is a reason why after careful consideration, PEP 313 was ultimately rejected. BTW, it is common in Russia to specify months using roman numerals. Maybe we should consider allowing datetime.date() accept '1.IV.2011'.