[Python-Dev] Python 3.x and bytes

["Martin v. Löwis"]

> Here's another thought, that perhaps is not backwards-incompatible...
> 
> some_var[3] == b'd'
> 
> At some point, the bytes class' __eq__ will be called -- is there a
> reason why we cannot have
> 
> 1) a check to see if the bytes instance is length 1
> 2) a check to see if
>    i) the other object is an int, and
>    2) 0 <= other_obj < 256
> 3) if 1 and 2, make the comparison instead of returning NotImplemented?

Immutable objects that compare equal should hash equal;
so we would also have to change the hashing of byte strings. Not sure
whether that, in turn, has undesirable consequences.

In addition, equality should be transitive, so b'A' == 65.0.

Regards,
Martin