Converts the string representation of a json number into its python object equivalent, an
    int, long, float or whatever type suits.

def default_number_converter(number_str):
    """
    Converts the string representation of a json number into its python object equivalent, an
    int, long, float or whatever type suits.
    """
    is_int = (number_str.startswith('-') and number_str[1:].isdigit()) or number_str.isdigit()
    # FIXME: this handles a wider range of numbers than allowed by the json standard,
    # etc.: float('nan') and float('inf'). But is this a problem?
    return int(number_str) if is_int else float(number_str)