Why are Python objects of different types ordered by type names?

Question

From Python docs: http://docs.python.org/library/stdtypes.html#comparisons

Implementation note: Objects of different types except numbers are ordered by their type names; objects of the same types that don’t support proper comparison are ordered by their address.

Is there any reason for choosing to do this over raising an exception?

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 16 '09 at 03:51

5

About four lines up from that line you quoted:

Objects of different types, except different numeric types and different string types, never compare equal; such objects are ordered consistently but arbitrarily (so that sorting a heterogeneous array yields a consistent result).

You don't want to raise exceptions when sorting a list of differently typed objects.

answered Mar 16 '09 at 03:51

Ali Afshar

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Do note that Python 3.x *will* raise an exception when comparing different non-coercible types. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Mar 16 '09 at 04:13
Actually I do want to raise an exception when sorting a list of differently typed objects :) – wim Jun 15 '14 at 22:17

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 16 '09 at 03:49

1

It can be useful for objects of different types to be collected into a single, sorted list, in a definite order. By giving all objects a stable sort order, this behavior is default.

answered Mar 16 '09 at 03:49

SingleNegationElimination

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Why are Python objects of different types ordered by type names?

2 Answers2