Permanent objects?

[Erik Max Francis]

Tom Zych wrote:

> I'm guessing that Python keeps the integers from -1 to 99 as
> permanent objects so it doesn't have to create a brand new object
> for every piddling little [0] and such. Anyone know?

Yes (or something along those lines; you could check the source code for
the final word).  This optimization is really an implementation detail,
however; since these objects are immutable, tests for == vs. is are
really irrelevant and code should never rely on any such behavior of is
vs. ==.

In short, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

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