base converter

[Alex Martelli]

"Omni Permeable" <om at nikocity.de> wrote in message
news:c7cebb43.0106141326.589577e3 at posting.google.com...
    ...
> > > def BaseConvert(x, b):
> > >     "convert decimal number x to base b"
    ...
> > def BaseConvert(x, b):
> >     import string
> >     digits = string.digits + string.uppercase
> >     if b>len(digits):
> >         raise ValueError, "base %s too large"%b
    ...
> tracking down bug#2 : b==1 iterates forever! because : divmod (5,1) ==
(5,0)

Good point!

> any more elegant solution than this one :
>
>      elif b==1:
>        return '0'*x

That wouldn't be correct anyway.  1 is just not an acceptable
base -- neither are 0 and -1; you can't represent whatever
integer Z as a polynomial in base 1, 0, or -1.  (I have not
checked how BaseConvert behaves with other <-1 bases, or
non-integer bases, or...:-).  Just throw a ValueError with
"base %s incorrect"%b for b<2, I'd say.


Alex