3 ms·

You may not realize that the removal of the inconsistency would be so that a = integer, b = same integer a is b is always false. The inconsistency is tha

• amelius 9y ago
  Let's see. The first mistake is of course that the object identity operator is called "is", and should have been called something like "is-same-object-as". Then, a is-same-object-as b, for integers could raise an error, as a and b are not objects. If that's not desired (for some reason), then a is-same-object-as b could indeed return false in all cases, and that would at least be more consistent than returning true for integers smaller than some number and false otherwise.
  • kbutler 9y ago
    > is-same-object-as I don't expect that's a language I'd enjoy. You may prefer Objective-C over Python. > a is-same-object-as b, for integers could raise an error, as a and b are not objects. That would be a greater inconsistency than the minor additional optimization for small integers. It's a Java performance optimization that has crept into the way you think about the data, impacting much more of your program than just "is-a-long-name". >>> isinstance(1, object) True