Re: [Tutor] A question about how python handles numbers larger than it's 32 bit limit
On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 11:16 AM, John Toliver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Greetings, > > The book I have says when you anticipate that you will be working with > numbers larger than what python can handle, you place an "L" after the > number to signal python to treat it as a large number. Your book is a little old, the "L" has not been required since Python 2.4. Kent ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
Re: [Tutor] A question about how python handles numbers larger than it's 32 bit limit
On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 04:24:48PM +0100, Adam Bark wrote: > 2008/9/23 John Toliver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > Greetings, > > > > The book I have says when you anticipate that you will be working with > > numbers larger than what python can handle, you place an "L" after the > > number to signal python to treat it as a large number. Does this > > "treating" of the number only mean that Python won't try to represent > > the number internally as a 32bit integer? Python still appears to be > > representing the number only with an L behind it so what is happening to > > the number then. Is the L behind the number telling python to handle > > this large number in HEX instead which would fit into the 32 bit limit? > > > > thanks in advance, > > > > John T > > > The L stands for long integer and means that it will usually use twice the > space of a regular integer so in this case 64bits. s/64bits/infinite/ Python is not C :) In Python, long integers are unlimited precision values, so you can accurately store a number like 32432471704327419865487605452750436198382489276811235713483294872389573259823495174875098750298475019874230984710985743980572840957432098578029107923471 if you want to. They aren't handled as *fast* as regular native integer values (which are implemented as the C "long int" type internally in CPython, so they may be 32 bits or possibly(?) longer), but they are unlimited in size. Python will automatically promote an integer to a long when it gets too big, so you don't *have* to put the L on the end or use long() to construct one explicitly, unless you really want it to be long type from the beginning. -- Steve Willoughby| Using billion-dollar satellites [EMAIL PROTECTED] | to hunt for Tupperware. ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
Re: [Tutor] A question about how python handles numbers larger than it's 32 bit limit
2008/9/23 John Toliver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Greetings, > > The book I have says when you anticipate that you will be working with > numbers larger than what python can handle, you place an "L" after the > number to signal python to treat it as a large number. Does this > "treating" of the number only mean that Python won't try to represent > the number internally as a 32bit integer? Python still appears to be > representing the number only with an L behind it so what is happening to > the number then. Is the L behind the number telling python to handle > this large number in HEX instead which would fit into the 32 bit limit? > > thanks in advance, > > John T The L stands for long integer and means that it will usually use twice the space of a regular integer so in this case 64bits. HTH Adam. ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
[Tutor] A question about how python handles numbers larger than it's 32 bit limit
Greetings, The book I have says when you anticipate that you will be working with numbers larger than what python can handle, you place an "L" after the number to signal python to treat it as a large number. Does this "treating" of the number only mean that Python won't try to represent the number internally as a 32bit integer? Python still appears to be representing the number only with an L behind it so what is happening to the number then. Is the L behind the number telling python to handle this large number in HEX instead which would fit into the 32 bit limit? thanks in advance, John T ___ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
