[Python-ideas] Python history [was Re: Re: Adding pep8-casing-compliant aliases for the entire stdlib]

I know this suggestion is withdrawn and the thread all but finished, but for completion, I'd like to answer one of Chris' questions: On Fri, Nov 12, 2021 at 04:48:58AM +1100, Chris Angelico wrote:

I'll have to get someone else to confirm, but I believe that str, int, etc were functions for a lot of Python's history.

I don't know if the first eleven years counts as "a lot" of Python's history (it's about 1/3rd of Python's existence at this point), but in Python 1.x and some of 2.x, str, int, float, list etc were all actual functions and couldn't be subclassed: [steve@ando ~]$ python1.5 Python 1.5.2 (#1, Aug 27 2012, 09:09:18) [GCC 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-52)] on linux2 Copyright 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam >>> >>> class MyString(str): pass ... Traceback (innermost last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in ? TypeError: base is not a class object >>> >>> type(str) There were two distinct object heirarchies. Builtin *types* str, int ... were different kinds of objects to the classes and instances you created with the `class` keyword. >>> type(type('a')) >>> >>> class C: pass ... >>> type(C) It wasn't until Python 2.2 that builtin types and classes were unified, becoming the same thing; the functions str, int, etc became classes; and every object in Python was consolidated into a single heirarchy with `object` as the root. https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.2.3/descrintro/ -- Steve