Against PEP 240

[Jeff Putsch]

On Wed, May 30, 2001 at 12:31:29AM +0100, Robin Becker wrote:
> I prefer float literals as the default, but I fear this argument is
> going against me. If that is the case I would prefer that a simple

Having read most of this discussusion, I must agree with Robin. I too prefer
float literals as the default.

I feel, possibly incorrectly, and possibly risking offense to some that
there are two primary reasons for this change:

  1  Python lacks a rational literal. I understand that in some problem
     spaces this lack is critical and needs to be addressed.

  2  There seems to be a feeling that life should be made easy for
     "uninformed" programmers.

As for reason 1, I don't quite see why the current default behavior need
be modified to add rational literals to the language. It seems to me the
new feature should have the new syntax.

With regard to reason 2, my feeling is that making life easy for "uninformed" 
programmers will simply encourage poor programming. 

Jeff.