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

[Greg Ewing]

Guido:

> In Python 2.4, the recommended way will be to write 0xffffffff and not
> worry about the fact that it's a positive long;

Yes, it won't be so much of an issue then. But you can still get a
negative long from a positive one when bit twiddling by complementing,
meaning that you have to remember to mask the result before displaying
it as hex, or end up with a hex representation that displays the bit
pattern in a way that's hard to interpret.

That's the usage I had in mind when I mentioned the 1x notation --
for display, not for input.

But thinking about it now, it would be better to provide a new
function for hexifying that you could tell how many bits you're
interested in, and it would show you that many, unsigned. Maybe
also a new format operator for this as well.

Greg Ewing, Computer Science Dept, +--------------------------------------+
University of Canterbury,	   | A citizen of NewZealandCorp, a	  |
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