No subject

Python 2.2.

> Furthermore:
> 
>     >>> range(3.3, 10.3)
>     [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
> 
> But:
> 
>     >>> range('1', '5')
>     Traceback (most recent call last):
>       File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
>     TypeError: an integer is required
> 
> Now I note that strings don't have __int__, so I guess the int type handles
> int('42') itself using special knowledge about strings.

That's correct. int() knows how to convert strings:

    >>> print int.__doc__
    int(x[, base]) -> integer
    
    Convert a string or number to an integer, if possible.  A floating
    point argument will be truncated towards zero (this does not include
    a string representation of a floating point number!)  When
    converting a string, use the optional base.  It is an error to
    supply a base when converting a non-string.


> I suppose that's to
> keep strings from seeming to be numbers, since the nb_int slot fills in the
> number_methods.
> 
> And:
> 
>     >>> class zero(object):
>     ...     def __int__(self): return 0
>     ...
>     >>> range(zero(), 5)
>     [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]
> 
> So, is there any general practice, (even if it's not universal)? Do Python
> functions usually tend to coerce their arguments into the types they're
> expecting? I'm guessing the answer is no...