what if i dont want a 32 bit int?

[Gordon McMillan]

jerry smith asks:

> what if all i want is really just an 8 bit or 16 bit number? so
> if i do this
> 
> i=0x80
> i=~i
> print '%x' %i
> ffffff7f
> 
> that is too many leading f's so i have to have an anding mask of 
> i & ff? is there any alternative? 

Nope.

> to select how much space i want
> to dedicate for a python object to be stored as? 

You think a Python int only takes 32 bits? Sorry to disappoint, 
but they're objects(*). Now if you want to store them externally 
as something else, you can use the struct module to get them 
into or from C values.

(*) The first 100 ints are singleton objects:

>>> x = 1
>>> import sys
>>> sys.getrefcount(x)
40


- Gordon