I had a thought ... (I know, call the newspapers).

[Alex Martelli]

"Delaney, Timothy" <tdelaney at avaya.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.991618386.21127.python-list at python.org...
> > Rather then stick to a particular character to denote that
> > something is
> > currency, this would be an ideal opportunity to internationalize.
> > Further, by saving the unicode representation of the symbol used ($,
> > Euro, Pound, Franc, Lire, Yen etc.) one has the potential for doing
> > currency conversion with some to be specified __InfixOperator__.
>
> Hmm ... so does this mean that any currency manipulations would be
dependent
> on a working internet connection, and a working and correct currency
> conversion site?

Not ANY -- conversions between Euros, Francs (both Belgian and French
variety, though not the Swiss) and Liras (the Italian kind -- not the
Turkish one), as well as Marks, Pesetas, Florins (Dutch kind), Austrian
Schillings (and I forget which other currencies if any) use fixed ratios
that could be encoded as part of the program.  Of course, out of all of
these denominations only Euros will be in official use a year from now,
so the time window of usefulness is limited (but probably some people
will feel more comfortable computing in, e.g., Marks, for a good while,
even after Euro is the only device they see on their banknotes, since
they're intuitively familiar with Marks and not with Euros).

Your point is well taken, it seems to me, for any denomination that is
not simply a synonym for another, as all in the Euro zone now are.


Alex