[Python-Dev] Re: RE: [Spambayes] Question (or possibly a bug report)

[Terry Reedy]

"Tim Peters" <tim.one@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:LNBBLJKPBEHFEDALKOLCGEOJEPAB.tim.one@comcast.net...
> [Tim]
> >> It would be better if Python didn't use locale-dependent
> >> string<->float conversions internally, but that's just not
> >> the case (yet).
>
> [Tony Meyer]
> > Is this likely to become the case?  (In 2.4, for example?)
>
> I think so, and maybe before that.  Not in 2.3 final, but maybe in
2.3.1 --
> numeric locale problems can be catastrophic to Python programmers,
so I'm
> comfortable arguing the case for calling it a bugfix.

Lib Manual 3.19 says clearly that the marshal format for a specific
release is system independent and tranportable.  It includes floats as
one of the types so supported.  If, as I have gathered from this
thread, the format for floats is actually, under certain
circumstances, whimsy-dependent, I think a warning should be added to
the doc until the bug is fixed.

Terry J. Reedy