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Author abcdef
Recipients abcdef, docs@python
Date 2017-11-25.18:31:43
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Message-id <1511634703.59.0.213398074469.issue32133@psf.upfronthosting.co.za>
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Content
Documentation of the numbers module:
https://docs.python.org/3/library/numbers.html
states "None of the types defined in this module can be instantiated."

This is true for Complex, Real, Rational, Integral but not for Number:

>>> numbers.Number()
<numbers.Number object at 0x7fcccc71f3c0>
>>> numbers.Real()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: Can't instantiate abstract class Real...

Since Number doesn't have any abstract methods, the correct fix seems to be changing the documentation. I would try to convey something like this:

"The types defined in this module can be used for subclassing and checking whether a specific class is in the numeric hierarchy; they are not used directly for instantiation. For this, you can use types such as `complex` or `fractions.Fraction`".
History
Date User Action Args
2017-11-25 18:31:43abcdefsetrecipients: + abcdef, docs@python
2017-11-25 18:31:43abcdefsetmessageid: <1511634703.59.0.213398074469.issue32133@psf.upfronthosting.co.za>
2017-11-25 18:31:43abcdeflinkissue32133 messages
2017-11-25 18:31:43abcdefcreate