Python 3.0, 'Hello' < 42

[towitowi]

Hello,

In the 3.0 changes list there is mentioned that "<"-compares are not
supported anymore if the compared types are different (except
numbers). Like
42 < "Hello"
did return True of False depending on the implementation but is now a
TypeError.

But the document also mentions that the result is not strictly
"undefined" but "reproducable undetermined". Meaning, that on a given
machine with a given python implementation result will always be the
same. But on another machine, or with another python implementation,
it might give a different result.

My question now is, why this is? E.g, Is there an integer large enough
so that the result changes? What circumstances influence the result?

Thanks in advance.

tschau, towi.

 

[Martin v. Löwis]

But the document also mentions that the result is not strictly

"undefined" but "reproducable undetermined".

What specific document are you looking at, and where specifically
does it say that? I can't believe that the quotation marks indicate
an actual quote, in particular because "reproducible" is misspelled.

In any case, I can't find anything like that in the 3.0 changes
document, and, given that the comparison *does* give an exception,
any statement that the result is undetermined would be false.

Regards,
Martin

 

[Terry Reedy]

What specific document are you looking at, and where specifically
does it say that? I can't believe that the quotation marks indicate
an actual quote, in particular because "reproducible" is misspelled.

I believe there was something like that in the 2.x docs but nothing in
the Expressions / Comparisons section of 3.0.