[Python-Dev] Revamping Python's Numeric Model

[Tim Peters]

[Guido]
> 1/2 yielding 0.5 is innovative?  Give me a break.  Pascal did this.
> Algol-60 did this.  Fortran does this.  And rational numbers are less
> innovative?

Small correction:  Fortran does not -- 1/2 is 0 in Fortran (same as C99's
new rules, int div always truncates).

So far as innovation goes, no choice on the table so far is innovative
(neither mathematically nor in programming languages), so there's no basis
for choosing there.

Guido, *why* did ABC use rationals by default?  Was that driven by usability
studies?