[Python-ideas] Fixing the Python 3 bytes constructor

[Neil Girdhar]

I guess neither of you uses numpy? :)

Please not "zeroes".  Numpy uses "zeros".

If it's going to be "allnull" please put the underscore in to be consistent 
with PEP 8: "all_null".

Best,

Neil

On Friday, March 28, 2014 6:50:28 AM UTC-4, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>
> On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 08:27:33PM +1000, Nick Coghlan wrote: 
> > One of the current annoyances with the bytes type in Python 3 is the 
> > way the constructor handles integers: 
> [...] 
>
> > 1. Add "bytes.chr" such that "bytes.chr(x)" is equivalent to the PEP 
> > 361 defined "b'%c' % x" 
>
> +1 on the concept, but please not "chr". How about bytes.byte(x)? That 
> emphasises that you are dealing with a single byte, and avoids 
> conflating chars (strings of length 1) with bytes. 
>
>
> > 2. Add "bytearray.allnull" and "bytes.allnull" such that 
> > "bytearray.allnull(x)" is equivalent to the current "bytearray(x)" int 
> > handling 
>
> +1 on bytearray.allnull, with a mild preference for spelling it "zeroes" 
> instead. 
>
> I'm indifferent about bytes.allnull. I'm not sure why I would use it 
> in preference to b'\0'*x, or for that matter why I would use it at all. 
> I suppose if there's a bytearray.allnul, for symmetry there should be a 
> bytes.allnul as well. 
>
>
> > 3. Deprecate the current "bytes(x)" and "bytearray(x)" int handling as 
> > not only ambiguous, but actually a genuine bug magnet (it's way too 
> > easy to accidentally pass a large integer and try to allocate a 
> > ridiculously large bytes object) 
>
> +1 
>
>
> [...] 
> > Anyway, what do people think? Does anyone actually *like* the way the 
> > bytes constructor in Python 3 currently handles integers and want to 
> > keep it forever? 
>
> Not me! 
>
>
> > Does the above proposal sound like a reasonable 
> > suggestion for improvement in 3.5? Does this hit PEP territory, since 
> > it's changing the signature and API of a builtin? 
>
> On the vanishingly small chance that there is universal agreement on 
> this, and a minimum of bike-shedding, I think it would still be useful 
> to write up a brief half page PEP linking to the discussion here. 
>
>
> -- 
> Steven 
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