Index: Lib/UserString.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/UserString.py	(revision 53047)
+++ Lib/UserString.py	(working copy)
@@ -149,15 +149,41 @@
     def __hash__(self):
         raise TypeError, "unhashable type (it is mutable)"
     def __setitem__(self, index, sub):
-        if index < 0:
-            index += len(self.data)
-        if index < 0 or index >= len(self.data): raise IndexError
-        self.data = self.data[:index] + sub + self.data[index+1:]
+        if isinstance(index, slice):
+            if isinstance(sub, UserString):
+               sub = sub.data
+            elif not isinstance(sub, basestring):
+               sub = str(sub)
+            start, stop, step = index.indices(len(self.data))
+            if step == -1:
+                start, stop = stop+1, start+1
+                sub = sub[::-1]
+            elif step != 1:
+                # XXX(twouters): I guess we should be reimplementing
+                # the extended slice assignment/deletion algorithm here...
+                raise TypeError, "invalid step in slicing assignment"
+            start = min(start, stop)
+            self.data = self.data[:start] + sub + self.data[stop:]
+        else:
+            if index < 0:
+                index += len(self.data)
+            if index < 0 or index >= len(self.data): raise IndexError
+            self.data = self.data[:index] + sub + self.data[index+1:]
     def __delitem__(self, index):
-        if index < 0:
-            index += len(self.data)
-        if index < 0 or index >= len(self.data): raise IndexError
-        self.data = self.data[:index] + self.data[index+1:]
+        if isinstance(index, slice):
+            start, stop, step = index.indices(len(self.data))
+            if step == -1:
+                start, stop = stop+1, start+1
+            elif step != 1:
+                # XXX(twouters): see same block in __setitem__
+                raise TypeError, "invalid step in slicing deletion"
+            start = min(start, stop)
+            self.data = self.data[:start] + self.data[stop:]
+        else:
+            if index < 0:
+                index += len(self.data)
+            if index < 0 or index >= len(self.data): raise IndexError
+            self.data = self.data[:index] + self.data[index+1:]
     def __setslice__(self, start, end, sub):
         start = max(start, 0); end = max(end, 0)
         if isinstance(sub, UserString):
Index: Lib/test/string_tests.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/string_tests.py	(.../p3yk)	(revision 53047)
+++ Lib/test/string_tests.py	(.../p3yk-noslice)	(revision 53047)
@@ -907,7 +907,6 @@
         self.checkequal(u'abc', 'abc', '__getitem__', slice(0, 1000))
         self.checkequal(u'a', 'abc', '__getitem__', slice(0, 1))
         self.checkequal(u'', 'abc', '__getitem__', slice(0, 0))
-        # FIXME What about negative indices? This is handled differently by [] and __getitem__(slice)
 
         self.checkraises(TypeError, 'abc', '__getitem__', 'def')
 
@@ -921,10 +920,21 @@
         self.checkequal('', 'abc', '__getslice__', 1000, 1000)
         self.checkequal('', 'abc', '__getslice__', 2000, 1000)
         self.checkequal('', 'abc', '__getslice__', 2, 1)
-        # FIXME What about negative indizes? This is handled differently by [] and __getslice__
 
         self.checkraises(TypeError, 'abc', '__getslice__', 'def')
 
+    def test_extended_getslice(self):
+        # Test extended slicing by comparing with list slicing.
+        s = string.ascii_letters + string.digits
+        indices = (0, None, 1, 3, 41, -1, -2, -37)
+        for start in indices:
+            for stop in indices:
+                # Skip step 0 (invalid)
+                for step in indices[1:]:
+                    L = list(s)[start:stop:step]
+                    self.checkequal(u"".join(L), s, '__getitem__',
+                                    slice(start, stop, step))
+        
     def test_mul(self):
         self.checkequal('', 'abc', '__mul__', -1)
         self.checkequal('', 'abc', '__mul__', 0)
Index: Lib/test/test_userstring.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_userstring.py	(revision 53047)
+++ Lib/test/test_userstring.py	(working copy)
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 # UserString instances should behave similar to builtin string objects.
 
 import unittest
+import string
 from test import test_support, string_tests
 
 from UserString import UserString, MutableString
@@ -88,6 +89,28 @@
         del s[-1:10]
         self.assertEqual(s, "fo")
 
+    def test_extended_set_del_slice(self):
+        indices = (0, None, 1, 3, 19, 100, -1, -2, -31, -100)
+        orig = string.ascii_letters + string.digits
+        for start in indices:
+            for stop in indices:
+                # Use indices[1:] when MutableString can handle real
+                # extended slices
+                for step in (None, 1, -1):
+                    s = self.type2test(orig)
+                    L = list(orig)
+                    # Make sure we have a slice of exactly the right length,
+                    # but with (hopefully) different data.
+                    data = L[start:stop:step]
+                    data.reverse()
+                    L[start:stop:step] = data
+                    s[start:stop:step] = "".join(data)
+                    self.assertEquals(s, "".join(L))
+                    
+                    del L[start:stop:step]
+                    del s[start:stop:step]
+                    self.assertEquals(s, "".join(L))
+
     def test_immutable(self):
         s = self.type2test("foobar")
         s2 = s.immutable()