[Python-Dev] New PEP: Using ssize_t as the index type

[Guido van Rossum]

+1. I think this is long overdue. While I can't judge the amount of
code breakage, 2.5 is as good an opportunity as any.

--Guido

On 12/29/05, "Martin v. Löwis" <martin at v.loewis.de> wrote:
> Please let me know what you think.
>
> Regards,
> Martin
>
> PEP: XXX
> Title: Using ssize_t as the index type
> Version: $Revision$
> Last-Modified: $Date$
> Author: Martin v. Löwis <martin at v.loewis.de>
> Status: Draft
> Type: Standards Track
> Content-Type: text/x-rst
> Created: 18-Dec-2005
> Post-History:
>
>
> Abstract
> ========
>
> In Python 2.4, indices of sequences are restricted to the C type
> int. On 64-bit machines, sequences therefore cannot use the full
> address space, and are restricted to 2**31 elements. This PEP proposes
> to change this, introducing a platform-specific index type
> Py_ssize_t. An implementation of the proposed change is in
> http://svn.python.org/projects/python/branches/ssize_t.

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