what's the point of pow()?

[richyjsm]

it's a serious question: why does the builtin pow function exist?

for two argument pow we've got **. there's no add() for + or mul()
for *....

and three argument pow-with-modulo seems like specilaist usage that
belongs in the standard lib, not in the core. I know about crypto and
number theory uses. are there others?

it's obviously useful for something or else it would be slated for
removal in python 3000, surely?

Richard

 

[Paul Rubin]

it's a serious question: why does the builtin pow function exist?
for two argument pow we've got **. there's no add() for + or mul()
for *....

They are in the operator module and maybe pow could go there too.

Actually there's a math.pow function that works differently from
the builtin function. Some cleanup might be in order.