[Python-Dev] Deprecation warning on integer shifts and such

[Guido van Rossum]

> I'm very much in favor of this change but a deprecation warning is not 
> enough - some suitable replacement should be provided to cryptographers 
> and other bit fiddlers.

You can do all the bit fiddling you want using longs already.  If you
want the result truncated to n bits, simply apply a mask after each
operation, e.g. (for 32-bit results) x = (x << 14) & 0xffffffff.

> Proposal:
> 
> A standard module implementing the types [u]int[8|16|32|64]. These types
> would behave just like C integers - wrap around on overflow, etc and have 
> a guaranteed size regardless of platform. They can even have methods for
> bit rotation.

If you propose this as a Python module, I'm +/- 0; I don't have the
need, and I feel you can do all of this already, but I can see that
there may be one or two things that beginners at bit-fiddling might
find useful (like how to do sign extension or sign folding without an
if statement).

If you were proposing a C module, an emphatic YAGNI accompanies a -1.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)