while var, but var ==16 != true

[Larry Bates]

maestro wrote:
> why does this work?  "while p" = "while p != 0" ? 1 is True and 0 is
> false in python but other numbers have no boolean value so why doesnt
> it abort.
> 
> 
> 
>>>> p=16
>>>> p
> 16
>>>> while p:
> 	print p
> 	p -= 1
> 
> 
> 16
> 15
> 14
> 13
> 12
> 11
> 10
> 9
> 8
> 7
> 6
> 5
> 4
> 3
> 2
> 1
> 
> 
> i can also do:
> 
>>>> k=[]
>>>> while k:
> 	k.pop()
> 
> 
>>>> k=[1,2,3]
>>>> while k:
> 	k.pop()
> 
> 
> 3
> 2
> 1
> 
> 
> so obv while var means while not empty or why not zero but it isnt
> something youd guess unless youd beeen shown it.

Python manuals outline that 0, None, empty list, empty dictionary are False 
anything else evaluates to True.  This is all over this list as well.

-Larry