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Programming FAQ about "How do I convert a string to a number?" contains a typo #84520
Description
| BPO | 40340 |
|---|---|
| Nosy | @aeros, @caje731, @Dominik1123 |
| PRs |
Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.
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GitHub fields:
assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2020-04-25.06:33:42.992>
created_at = <Date 2020-04-20.19:37:45.484>
labels = ['type-feature', '3.8', '3.9', 'docs']
title = 'Programming FAQ about "How do I convert a string to a number?" contains a typo'
updated_at = <Date 2020-04-25.06:33:42.991>
user = 'https://github.com/Dominik1123'bugs.python.org fields:
activity = <Date 2020-04-25.06:33:42.991>
actor = 'aeros'
assignee = 'docs@python'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2020-04-25.06:33:42.992>
closer = 'aeros'
components = ['Documentation']
creation = <Date 2020-04-20.19:37:45.484>
creator = 'Dominik V.'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 40340
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 5.0
messages = ['366870', '366871', '366875', '367144', '367239']
nosy_count = 5.0
nosy_names = ['docs@python', 'python-dev', 'aeros', 'cajetan.rodrigues', 'Dominik V.']
pr_nums = ['19688']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue40340'
versions = ['Python 3.8', 'Python 3.9']
Activity
Dominik1123 commentedon Apr 20, 2020
The paragraph about How do I convert a string to a number? contains the following sentence:
The first part however doesn't raise an error. Most likely octal notation was meant, i.e.
int('0o144') == 144.For consistency with the
int('0x144')part one could also omit the equality comparison, i.e. just writeint('0o144').In order to emphasize that the "and" is not part of the code (though this should be displayed by the browser) once could also write:
(emphasis added)
caje731 commentedon Apr 20, 2020
I'm no linguist, but I feel both expressions in the subordinate clause have their purposes, with respect to the the main clause:
int('0144') == 144to show what worksint('0x144')to show what does not workI don't believe the octal notation was meant in the first example, as the equality wouldn't then hold, even if somehow the typecast worked (which it doesn't). The point was to positively reinforce the idea that the content of the string would be interpreted as a decimal. So something like
int('000000144') == 144would still hold True. Negative reinforcement is provided in the second example.But I agree that the sentence itself does not clearly separate the two examples, so I would suggest adding a comma after the first example, like so:
Dominik1123 commentedon Apr 20, 2020
Indeed, thanks for clarifying. It seems I misunderstood the example, and perhaps that calls for a better separation. What about adding
caje731 commentedon Apr 23, 2020
Yes, I think that's acceptable.
aeros commentedon Apr 24, 2020
New changeset 5aafa54 by Cajetan Rodrigues in branch 'master':
bpo-40340: Separate examples more clearly in the programming FAQ (GH-19688)
5aafa54