python中range len_Python，len和整数的大小

So, cPython (2.4) has some interesting behaviour when the length of something gets near to 1<<32 (the size of an int).

r = xrange(1<<30)

assert len(r) == 1<<30

is fine, but:

r = xrange(1<<32)

assert len(r) == 1<<32

ValueError: xrange object size cannot be reported`__len__() should return 0 <= outcome

Alex's wowrange has this behaviour as well. wowrange(1<<32).l is fine, but len(wowrange(1<<32)) is bad. I'm guessing there is some floating point behaviour (being read as negative) action going on here.

What exactly is happening here? (this is pretty well-solved below!)

How can I get around it? Longs?

(My specific application is random.sample(xrange(1<<32),ABUNCH)) if people want to tackle that question directly!)

解决方案

cPython assumes that lists fit in memory. This extends to objects that behave like lists, such as xrange. essentially, the len function expects the __len__ method to return something that is convertable to size_t, which won't happen if the number of logical elements is too large, even if those elements don't actually exist in memory.