Unlike Perl and PHP, both Python and Ruby don't allow you to convert strings implicitly to numbers like this, instead demanding that you explicitly convert them (by calling int() in Python and the to_i() method in Ruby). Curiously, Ruby's to_i() method, a la Perl and C's atoi(), happily converts "2abc" to the integer 2, while Python's stricter int() function instead issues a run time error. I know about all this from playing too much multi-language golf. :- ) In golf, these explicit conversions are certainly a chronic pest. In normal programming, however, I don't feel strongly -- though I suspect demanding explicit conversion may help the programmer avoid some data conversion boo boos.

In reply to Re^2: Numification of strings by eyepopslikeamosquito
in thread Numification of strings by LanX

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.