[me]
For strings there is no compact notation like "+0.0" if you want to convert to string or Unicode -- adding "" might work in Perl, but not in Python.
[PaulPrescod]
Actually, these days, foo+"" works in a LOT of languages. Perl, Java and JavaScript for sure.
Really? Does 3+"" really convert the 3 to a string in Java?
C++, depending on the type. Python's strictness about this issue has never caught a bug for me. It has only caused errors.
Are you sure? This is the kind of error where you immediately see what's wrong and move on to the next bug.
Okay, some newbie may think that "5"+"5"=="10". But they could also expect [5]+[5]==[10]. There are limits to the extent that we can protect them from incorrect mental models.
I won't argue with you there :-) --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://dinsdale.python.org/~guido/)