...but... why? Why would you want two's complement behavior in other bases?

I think that you are both over- and under-thinking this. (We've clashed before on the benefits or otherwise of 'machine representation', so you may chose to simply ignore this.)

On computers (popular, common, generic), numbers are stored and manipulated internally as binary. Whether we choose to view those numbers as signed or unsigned, integers or floats, decimal or hexadecimal or octal or (indeed) binary; internally they are held and maintained in binary form.

Even your favored (Python) infinite precision numbers are stored and manipulated using a binary representation. And that means that it had to deal with exactly the same problems as shmem's code, and solved them in essentially the same way as you are now critiquing.

For the full skinny, read PEP-0237.

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'
Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". The enemy of (IT) success is complexity.
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. Suck that fhit

In reply to Re^4: Math::Base - arithmetics with baseX integers (OP updated) by BrowserUk
in thread Math::Base - arithmetics with baseX integers (updated) by shmem

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