Int vs long (was: RE: [Python-Dev] re: syntax - "Aren't tuples redundant?")

[Tim Peters]

[Guido]
> I'm not sure I want to make this a priority given the accellerated 1.6
> schedule, but I certainly think this is the way of the future, and I
> don't expect many backwards compatibility problems...

I think more than one issue is on the table here:

1. Whether internal implementation code that currently relies on
   PyInt_Check should be liberalized to allow "int-sized longs" too.

2. Whether Python language semantics should be changed, so that e.g.
   int * int never overflows, but returns a long when appropriate.

I was mostly talking about #2 but I think Andrew's enthusiastic agreement
was really wrt #1.  You may also believe I was talking about #1.

Regardless, *just* tackling #1 at this time would be a good foundation for
later decisions about #2, and has real value on its own (with, I agree, few
backward-compatibility implications, and likely none serious (people would
no longer get exceptions on stuff like [42]*42L)).

Besides, I'm sure I heard Andrew volunteer to complete all the work by
Wednesday <wink>.