[Python-Dev] Comparing heterogeneous types

[Guido van Rossum]

> When that happens, I hope that comparisons between long and float
> will either raise TypeError or behave as if they are done in
> infinite precision.  Right now, the long gets converted to float,
> which may lose precision; as a result, it is possible to have values
> such that a==b, b==c, and a!=c.

I agree that doing them as if usin infinite precision is best, but I
adamantly oppose the idea that they should not be comparable at all.
To the contrary, we should do our best to ensure that int/long are
properly and cleanly embedded in floats.  That's why I introduced the
change to int/long division after all.

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