[tyingq]

It seems to just be layman shorthand for storing (not huge) integers as binary isn't lossy.

[Dylan16807]

Storing integers as decimal (which computers can do easily) isn't lossy either.

[viraptor]

I believe that's where "natively" comes in. If you store it in binary, you can operate on the values as numbers. If you do some decimal conversion, it's a blob of data. (Yes, there are BCD instructions but they're massively limited)

[SmellyGeekBoy]

Decimal numbers are still "stored as binary" at the silicon level.

[mondoshawan]

Unless you're on an IBM 1401... :D

[Merrill]

z14 and Power 9 appear to support decimal integer and float. Does Python on those processors support their use?

[tyingq]

I meant as opposed to floats, precision loss, etc.