[Python-ideas] PEP 3101 (Advanced string formatting) base 36 integer presentation type

[Antoine Pitrou]

On Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:14:44 -0600
Jeffrey <jss.bulk at gmail.com> wrote:
> I would like to suggest adding an integer presentation type for base 36
> to PEP 3101.  I can't imagine that it would be a whole lot more
> difficult than the existing types.  Python's built-in long integers
> provide a nice way to prototype and demonstrate cryptographic
> operations, especially with asymmetric cryptography.  (Alice and Bob
> stuff.)  Built-in functions provide modular reduction, modular
> exponentiation, and lots of nice number theory stuff that supports a
> variety of protocols and algorithms.  A frequent need is to represent a
> message by a number.  Base 36 provides a way to represent all 26 letters
> in a semi-standard way, and simple string transformations can
> efficiently make zeros into spaces or vice versa.

Why base 36 rather than, say, base 64 or even base 80?