[Python-Dev] %b format?

[Eric S. Raymond]

M.-A. Lemburg <mal@lemburg.com>:
> > > I would like to add a "%b" format for converting
> > > numbers to binary format (1's and 0's).  I realize
> > > this isn't a C-ism, but it would be very useful for
> > > teaching purposes, as newcomers find 101101 a lot
> > > easier to understand than 0x2D.
> > 
> > +1.  Didactically pretty useful, and the additional code won't boost
> > global complexity much.
> 
> Good idea. The only question I have is: in which order will
> you print the 0s and 1s (MSB->LSB, LSB->MSB, little/big endian) ?
> 
> I am thinking of adding a bit field type to mxNumber and have
> the same problem there...

For *this* context, we clearly want mathematical notation; MSB to the right
and no byte-swapping.  After all we'd actually be printing numerals, not 
dumping a bitfield.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

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