[Python-Dev] Unifying Long Integers and Integers: baseint

[Delaney, Timothy C (Timothy)]

Gareth McCaughan wrote:

> I don't think this is a good reason for rejecting "integer"
> as the name of the common supertype of int and long. You'd use
> isinstance(x,integer) to check whether x is an integer of
> built-in type, just as you currently use isinstance(x,float)
> to check whether x is a floating-point number of built-in
> type. I see no reason why a cumbersome name is much advantage.

All this brings to mind - is there actually a good reason to need a base
type? Why not just define baseinteger as:

    baseinteger = int, long

if the only reason for it is to use isinstance?

Tim Delaney