[Python-ideas] Decimal literal?

[Chris Rebert]

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 12:00 AM, Raymond Hettinger <python at rcn.com> wrote:
> From: "Chris Rebert" <clp at rebertia.com>
>
>
>> With Python 3.0 being released, and going over its many changes, I was
>> reminded that decimal numbers (decimal.Decimal) are still relegated to
>> a library and aren't built-in.
>>
>> Has there been any thought to adding decimal literals and making
>> decimal a built-in type?
>
> It's a non-starter until there is a fast, clean C implementation of decimal.
> The current module is hundreds of times slower than binary floats.
>

Does performance matter quite *that* critically in most everyday
programs? If people need such ruthless speed, they can use floats and
accept the consequences or use another language entirely (e.g. C, C++,
OCaml) as Python would be too slow even as it currently is. We're
talking about giving people the option to explicitly, in a less
cumbersome way, make that choice of correctness over performance.
If slowing startup time for the interpreter is what worries you, a
'from __future__ import' directive could be required and the timeline
for full built-in-ness pushed back.

Also, by "built-in" I didn't mean to necessarily imply "written in C",
but rather "being present in the builtin namespace and available by
default". That said, there appears to be decNumber
(http://speleotrove.com/decimal/#decNumber), an ANSI C implementation
of the General Decimal Arithmetic spec to which Decimal.decimal
adheres. At least there's a place to start.

Cheers,
Chris
-- 
Follow the path of the Iguana...
http://rebertia.com

>
> Raymond
>