Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python?

From	Laura Creighton <lac@openend.se>
Subject	Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python?
References	(7 earlier) <rosuav@gmail.com> <CAPTjJmrvi0EPyhV49hmqPxi1ztcZHmCn8hKzHhR7Y8_bkd7ZCw@mail.gmail.com> <201506011028.t51ASBVG019928@fido.openend.se> <CAPTjJmrCR6LWApe7UUF9DBCcQe2+hsCYi+s203aENUv2mmvDAA@mail.gmail.com> <mailman.282.1433157907.5151.python-list@python.org><87iob78wvl.fsf@elektro.pacujo.net>
Date	2015-06-01 17:07 +0200
Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Message-ID	<mailman.0.1433171249.13271.python-list@python.org> (permalink)

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In a message of Mon, 01 Jun 2015 14:57:02 +0300, Marko Rauhamaa writes:
>In 1951, decimal numbers would have done little good in the UK with the
>pound divided into 20 shillings and the shilling into 12 pence. Maybe a
>"Babylonian" module would have been perfect.
>
>
>Marko

You are being facetious, but in point of fact, naive Brits who knew nothing
of neither accounting systems nor floating point for the most part got
things right when they bought their Sinclair computer in the early
1980s.

This is because their natural tendancy was to calculate all the pounds
separately, and then the shillings, separately, and then the pence.
(With Guineas and other odd stuff thrown in, when the needed them).
This meant that they kept 3+ legers at one time, and then, when they
were done calculating as one final step converted what they had into
its representation where you never had more than 100 pence or 12 shillings.
Thus, entirely by accident, they did their accounting in integers, not
decimals at all.

And this is, of course, the first thing that people who write real
systems that add money learn -- convert everything to pennies (or
whatever you call them) and do all your calculations in pennies, and
then as the final step express that in dollars and cents, or euros
and cents, or what have you.

The Brits still got in trouble when they needed to calculate things for their
4.2 per cent morgage, or decided to keep a running total of the sales
tax they were paying, but they at least did not grab the floating
number representation as the first thing off the shelf when they needed
money.

Laura

Thread

What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Mike Driscoll <kyosohma@gmail.com> - 2015-05-29 09:01 -0700
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Joel Goldstick <joel.goldstick@gmail.com> - 2015-05-29 12:08 -0400
    Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Mike Driscoll <kyosohma@gmail.com> - 2015-05-29 09:55 -0700
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-05-30 02:09 +1000
    Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Mike Driscoll <kyosohma@gmail.com> - 2015-05-29 09:57 -0700
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-05-30 03:08 +1000
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? random832@fastmail.us - 2015-05-31 23:18 -0400
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 13:43 +1000
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Laura Creighton <lac@openend.se> - 2015-06-01 09:58 +0200
        Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-01 12:36 +0300
          Zero [was Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python?] Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2015-06-01 22:07 +1000
            Re: Zero [was Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python?] Laura Creighton <lac@openend.se> - 2015-06-01 14:52 +0200
            Re: Zero [was Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python?] Dave Farrance <DaveFarrance@OMiTTHiSyahooANDTHiS.co.uk> - 2015-06-01 13:56 +0100
              Re: Zero [was Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python?] Skip Montanaro <skip.montanaro@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 08:14 -0500
                Re: Zero [was Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python?] Dave Farrance <df@see.replyto.invalid> - 2015-06-01 15:39 +0100
              Re: Zero [was Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python?] Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2015-06-01 18:35 +0100
              Re: Zero [was Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python?] Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2015-06-01 17:32 -0400
            Re: Zero [was Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python?] Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-01 16:18 +0300
              Re: Zero [was Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python?] random832@fastmail.us - 2015-06-01 09:32 -0400
        Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Dave Farrance <DaveFarrance@OMiTTHiSyahooANDTHiS.co.uk> - 2015-06-01 11:44 +0100
          Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-01 13:54 +0300
        Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 22:33 -0700
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 19:45 +1000
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Laura Creighton <lac@openend.se> - 2015-06-01 12:28 +0200
        Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2015-06-01 14:22 +0100
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2015-06-01 11:34 +0100
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 20:36 +1000
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Laura Creighton <lac@openend.se> - 2015-06-01 13:00 +0200
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Laura Creighton <lac@openend.se> - 2015-06-01 13:24 +0200
        Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-01 14:57 +0300
          Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-06-01 13:27 +0100
          Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2015-06-01 13:27 +0100
          Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Laura Creighton <lac@openend.se> - 2015-06-01 17:07 +0200
            Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? alister <alister.nospam.ware@ntlworld.com> - 2015-06-01 15:26 +0000
              Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Laura Creighton <lac@openend.se> - 2015-06-01 17:51 +0200
              Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2015-06-01 18:06 +0100
                Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-06-01 20:14 +0300
            Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-06-01 16:42 +0100
              Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2015-06-01 17:02 +0000
                Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2015-06-01 18:45 +0100
                Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2015-06-01 18:23 +0000
        Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-06-01 13:24 +0100
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 23:52 +1000
        Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-06-01 16:17 +0100
          Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-06-02 02:10 +1000
            Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 21:46 -0700
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Skip Montanaro <skip.montanaro@gmail.com> - 2015-05-29 11:39 -0500
    Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Mike Driscoll <kyosohma@gmail.com> - 2015-05-29 09:58 -0700
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-05-30 02:50 +1000
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Todd <toddrjen@gmail.com> - 2015-05-29 19:02 +0200
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? sohcahtoa82@gmail.com - 2015-05-29 10:03 -0700
    Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2015-05-29 10:17 -0700
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? sohcahtoa82@gmail.com - 2015-05-29 14:06 -0700
        Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Jason Swails <jason.swails@gmail.com> - 2015-05-29 17:28 -0400
        Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2015-05-29 14:39 -0700
        Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2015-05-29 14:44 -0700
    Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2015-05-29 20:24 +0300
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Todd <toddrjen@gmail.com> - 2015-05-29 19:03 +0200
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2015-05-30 03:55 +1000
    Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Mike Driscoll <kyosohma@gmail.com> - 2015-05-29 13:38 -0700
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Sturla Molden <sturla.molden@gmail.com> - 2015-05-30 12:15 +0000
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? jonathon <jonathon.blake@gmail.com> - 2015-05-30 19:32 +0000
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-05-31 08:24 +1000
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? "C.D. Reimer" <chris@cdreimer.com> - 2015-05-30 18:28 -0700
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2015-05-30 20:30 -0700
    Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-05-31 14:25 +1000
      Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2015-05-30 21:46 -0700
        Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-05-31 14:58 +1000
          Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2015-05-30 22:18 -0700
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Gene Heskett <gheskett@wdtv.com> - 2015-06-01 09:49 -0400
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2015-06-01 15:30 +0000
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2015-06-01 20:33 -0400
  Re: What is considered an "advanced" topic in Python? Gene Heskett <gheskett@wdtv.com> - 2015-06-01 23:30 -0400

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