[Python-Dev] Semantics of __int__(), __index__()

Barry Warsaw barry at python.org
Wed Apr 3 19:46:49 CEST 2013


On Apr 04, 2013, at 03:04 AM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:

>On 04/04/13 01:16, Barry Warsaw wrote:

>> the other built-in types-as-functions, so int() calls __int__() which must
>> return a concrete integer.

>Why must it? I think that's the claim which must be justified, not just taken
>as a given.  When we call n = int(something), what's the use-case for caring
>that n is an instance of built-in int but not of a subclass, and is that
>use-case so compelling that it must be enforced for all uses of int() etc.?

It's a consistency-of-implementation issue.  Where built-in types are
callable, they return concrete instances of themselves.  This is true for
e.g. list, tuple, dict, bytes, str, and should also be true of int.

-Barry


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