products.json price datatype

[badgeAppTester_]

Hi

I'am using products admin API to get the products data. I will get the price element inside variants in the form of string. can i get the price value in the form of float or integer.

[Josh]

Hey there, 

The data types returned by the API cannot be changed when making a request. If you do require it to be a different type, that would be something that you'd have to change after receiving a response from us. 

[SerresPion]

Hey Josh,

Can I kindly ask why monetary types are typed as strings in the API to begin with?

There may be a very valid reason, but still, that design choice can't help but have new Shopify developers feel concerned. More so since the doc doesn't give a single clue about it. No explanations, no parsing rules, no nothing.

Does my app have to expect non-numerical string values at some point? Must I expect different decimal separator characters depending on some settings? Or user preference?

What's the deal here?