hashability

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:33:01 -0700, James Stroud wrote:

> Tell that to two different machines on two different days. Then bet the
> life of yourself and your nearest and dearest family on that fact and
> see whether you really want to take a hash value for granted. 

As far as I know, Python doesn't make any guarantees about hashes being 
repeatable on different machines, different versions, or even different 
runs of the interpreter.


> If a
> property of the python language fails the "bet the lives of your nearest
> and dearest on a consistent result" test, I call it "ill defined" and,
> subjectively speaking, I prefer exceptions to be thrown--And, by damned,
> I'll throw them myself if I have to.
> 
> "If it saves one life, it's worth it all."

Depends on the life, and the cost. Would you pay a million dollars from 
your own pocket to save the life of a 119 year old with advanced lung 
cancer, a bad heart, and a raging infection of Ebola, from choking on a 
fish bone?

What if the effort of saving that one life kills two lives? Opportunity 
costs are costs too.




-- 
Steven