mark dickinson vqpxmqtcgmailcom tue apr 15 2008 606 pm guido van rossum wrote input output often wildly asymmetric anyway easy make int float accept input types making return different output type different find existing workarounds good enough propose whole new api end deciding add one anyway dont think to_ascii good name doesnt imply type result since ascii text also usually represented unicode str instance okay thanks al responses ill close issue 2483 mark thu 07 aug 2008 122102 0400 python3000 int float accept bytes