Mutable numbers

[Dave Hansen]

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:44:52 +0530 in comp.lang.python, Suresh
Jeevanandam <jm.suresh at gmail.com> wrote:

># I am new to python.
>
>In python all numbers are immutable. This means there is one object ( a 
>region in the memory ) created every time we do an numeric operation. I 
>hope there should have been some good reasons why it was designed this way.
>
>But why not have mutable numbers also in the language. A type which 
>would behave as follows:
>
>a = MutableInt(12)

a = [12]

>b = a
>
>Now both a and b should refer to the same memory location. Any change in 
>the object should get reflected in all the references.
>
>a.assign(13) # Same memory location should be updated with value 13, b 

a[0] = 13

>is also 13 now.
>
>Now we can further optimize:
>
>a.incrementOne() # equivalent to a++ in C++
>a.decrementOne()

a[0] += 1
a[0] -= 1

>
>and the augmented assignment operation also could be made optimized.
>
>In any application most of the operation is numerical. So, i think, we 
>should get a good speed advantage with the availability of mutable 
>numbers. What do you think ?

I don't see how.

HTH,
                                        -=Dave

-- 
Change is inevitable, progress is not.