Re: Bytes indexing returns an int

Path	csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!ra.nrl.navy.mil!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!panix!not-for-mail
From	Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Subject	Re: Bytes indexing returns an int
Date	Wed, 8 Jan 2014 02:34:29 +0000 (UTC)
Organization	PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC
Lines	21
Message-ID	<laidfl$do7$1@reader1.panix.com> (permalink)
References	<52cbe15a$0$29993$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <CAF3XjbweCcbNE7Lb+JVXdThPj=jfqUChMEmB6CVOqxjh6TEvcA@mail.gmail.com> <mailman.5146.1389117017.18130.python-list@python.org> <52cc988f$0$29976$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <mailman.5155.1389141054.18130.python-list@python.org>
NNTP-Posting-Host	c-24-118-110-103.hsd1.mn.comcast.net
X-Trace	reader1.panix.com 1389148469 14087 24.118.110.103 (8 Jan 2014 02:34:29 GMT)
X-Complaints-To	abuse@panix.com
NNTP-Posting-Date	Wed, 8 Jan 2014 02:34:29 +0000 (UTC)
User-Agent	slrn/1.0.1 (Linux)
Xref	csiph.com comp.lang.python:63460

Show key headers only | View raw

On 2014-01-08, Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 11:15 AM, Steven D'Aprano
><steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> wrote:
>> Why decide that the bytes type is best considered as a list of
>> bytes rather than a string of bytes? It doesn't have any list methods, it
>> looks like a string and people use it as a string. As you have discovered,
>> it is an inconvenient annoyance that indexing returns an int instead of a
>> one-byte byte-string.
>>
>> I think that, in hindsight, this was a major screw-up in Python 3.
>
> Which part was?

The fact that b'ASDF'[0] in Python2 yeilds something different than it
does in Python3 -- one yields b'A' and the other yields 0x41.  It
makes portable code a lot harder to write.  I don't really have any
preference for one over the other, but changing it for no apparent
reason was a horrible idea.

-- 
Grant

Thread

Bytes indexing returns an int Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-01-07 22:13 +1100
  Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Ervin Hegedüs <airween@gmail.com> - 2014-01-07 12:53 +0100
    Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-01-07 23:04 +1100
  Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2014-01-07 09:29 -0500
  Re: Bytes indexing returns an int David Robinow <drobinow@gmail.com> - 2014-01-07 10:19 -0500
    Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-01-08 03:12 +1100
      Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Serhiy Storchaka <storchaka@gmail.com> - 2014-01-07 21:48 +0200
      Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Robin Becker <robin@reportlab.com> - 2014-01-08 11:05 +0000
        Re: Bytes indexing returns an int wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-01-08 08:08 -0800
          Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2014-01-08 12:19 -0500
            Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Piet van Oostrum <piet@vanoostrum.org> - 2014-01-09 18:05 +0100
              Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2014-01-09 09:28 -0800
              Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Serhiy Storchaka <storchaka@gmail.com> - 2014-01-09 21:36 +0200
          Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com> - 2014-01-08 10:25 -0700
  Re: Bytes indexing returns an int David Robinow <drobinow@gmail.com> - 2014-01-07 10:23 -0500
  Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2014-01-07 09:02 -0800
    Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-01-08 11:15 +1100
      Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-01-08 11:30 +1100
        Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2014-01-08 02:34 +0000
          Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-01-08 14:46 +1100
      Re: Bytes indexing returns an int Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2014-01-07 16:37 -0800

csiph-web