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[Python-Dev] proposal: add basic money type to the standard library

M.-A. Lemburg mal@lemburg.com
Tue, 26 Feb 2002 21:31:52 +0100 
Fredrik Lundh wrote:
> 
> and while I'm at it:
> 
> I propose adding an "abstract" money base type to the standard
> library, to be subclassed by real money/decimal implementations.
> 
>     if isinstance(v, basemoney):
>         # yay! it's money
>         print float(money) # let's hope it's not too much
> 
> The goal is not to standardize any behaviour beyond this; anything
> else should be provided by subtypes.
> 
> More details here:
> 
>     http://effbot.org/ideas/money-type.htm
> 
> I can produce PEP and patch if necessary.

Sounds like a plan. 

One thing though: the RE "[+|-]?\d+(.\d+)?" should be extended 
to allow for currency symbols and names in front or after the
monetary value.

Currency for money is a bit like timezones for datetime,
so it's a good idea, not to add it to the base type 
interface. However, the interface should be extendable
to include currency information.

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
CEO eGenix.com Software GmbH
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