[tompko]

If python was treating it as a text value then int("009") is 9 as you would expect. Even if it wasn't you could do lstrip("0") to remove leading zeroes before converting to an integer.

From reading the post it sounds like the faults lies more with the developers inability to use python than pythons inabilities.

Also, I know python has functional aspects, but is it really classified as a functional language now?

[ajuc]

Also - even if it was python fault, and if python was a functional language, error described here would be a problem of dynamic typing, not of functional-ness of a language.