Python Gotcha with Octal Numbers

[Steven Majewski]

On Wed, 13 Feb 2002, Richard Steiner wrote:

> Here in alt.folklore.computers,
> claird at starbase.neosoft.com (Cameron Laird) spake unto us, saying:
>
> >In article <130220020751360934%jwbaxter at spamcop.net>,
> >John W. Baxter <jwbaxter at spamcop.net> wrote:
> >			.
> >>Did the elves at AT&T pick up the "leading 0 means octal" from
> >>something earlier, or did they invent this stupidity themselves?
> >			.
> >OK, folks, how far back *can* we trace this?  My
> >mind associates it with DEC systems, going back
> >to the '60s, but I couldn't find any confirmation
> >of that in a quick search.
>
> I've seen the leading-zero-means-octal convention used rather heavily
> in documentation dated 1967-1968 in a UNIVAC 1106/1108 context.
>
> It seems to have been a fairly well-established convention at that
> point in time, at least in the UNIVAC world.
>

I'm betting that it's something that C (or B or BCPL) picked up
from some macro assembler syntax -- unfortunately, I finally
threw out all my VAX, PDP-11 and PDP-8 manuals last year -- I
had to clean out a back room that another lab is going to take
over.


-- Steve "the reformed packrat" Majewski