Numeric comparison anomaly

[Steven Taschuk]

Quoth Jim Meyer:
  [...]
> Here's a slightly different snippet to break:
> 
> class INFINITY:
>   def __init__(self, type = 1) :
>     self.sign = cmp(type, 0)
>     if not self.sign: self.sign = 1
>   def __cmp__(self, other) :
>     if isinstance(other, INFINITY) :
>       return cmp(self.sign, other.sign)
>     else :
>       return self.sign
  [...]
> --j, who wonders if 'self.sign = 0' might ever be interesting ...

If I've understood your code correctly, with self.sign == 0 we'd
have
	-inf < 0inf < +inf
and 0inf would compare as equal to all other objects (at least
when it was on the left-hand side of the comparison).

In a sense, then, 0inf means "an arbitrary finite number".  Using
"INFINITY(0) == x" to test "x is finite" is a little odd, but the
test itself is useful.  (It looks (very slightly) more sensible as
"INFINITY(False) == x".)

-- 
Steven Taschuk                               staschuk at telusplanet.net
"What I find most baffling about that song is that it was not a hit."
                            -- Tony Dylan Davis (CKUA)