--- a/pycall.cc	Thu Jun 09 12:59:09 2016 -0700
+++ b/pycall.cc	Thu Jun 09 14:52:06 2016 -0700
@@ -182,6 +182,25 @@
 }
 
 /*
+%!assert (ischar (pycall ("os.getcwd")))
+%!assert (isreal (pycall ("random.random")))
+%!assert (pycall ("math.exp", 3), exp (3))
+%!xtest assert (pycall ("math.trunc", pi), fix (pi))
+%!assert (pycall ("math.sqrt", 2), sqrt (2))
+%!xtest assert (pycall ("cmath.sqrt", 2j), sqrt (2j))
+
+## Test argument type conversion of values into Python
+%!test
+%! pyexec ("def typename(x): return type(x).__name__");
+%!xtest assert (pycall ("typename", 0), "double")
+%!xtest assert (pycall ("typename", pi), "double")
+%!xtest assert (pycall ("typename", 2j), "complex")
+%!xtest assert (pycall ("typename", int32 (0)), "int")
+%!xtest assert (pycall ("typename", false), "bool")
+%!xtest assert (pycall ("typename", true), "bool")
+%!assert (pycall ("typename", "Hello world"), "str")
+%!assert (pycall ("typename", char ([1, 2, 3])), "str")
+
 %!test
 %! pyexec ("def pyfunc(x):\n    return 2*x");
 %! z = pycall ("pyfunc", [20 20]);

--- a/pyeval.cc	Thu Jun 09 12:59:09 2016 -0700
+++ b/pyeval.cc	Thu Jun 09 14:52:06 2016 -0700
@@ -105,24 +105,33 @@
 }
 
 /*
-%!test
-%! q = pyeval ("10.1");
-%! assert (isnumeric (q))
-%! % note: floating-point equality test: usually bad but here we expect the exact same float
-%! assert (q, 10.1)
+%!assert (isnumeric (pyeval ("0")))
+%!assert (isreal (pyeval ("0")))
+%!assert (pyeval ("0"), 0)
 
-%!test
-%! q = pyeval ("\"I <3 Octave\"");
-%! assert (ischar (q))
-%! assert (! strcmp (q, "1 <3 Octave"))
+%!assert (isnumeric (pyeval ("10.1")))
+%!assert (isreal (pyeval ("10.1")))
+%!assert (pyeval ("10.1"), 10.1)
+
+%!assert (isnumeric (pyeval ("2j")))
+%!assert (iscomplex (pyeval ("2j")))
+%!assert (pyeval ("2j"), 2j)
+
+%!assert (ischar (pyeval ("\"I <3 Octave\"")))
+%!assert (pyeval ("\"I <3 Octave\""), "I <3 Octave")
 
 %!assert (islogical (pyeval ("True")))
 %!assert (islogical (pyeval ("False")))
-%!assert (pyeval ("True"))
-%!assert (! pyeval ("False"))
+%!assert (pyeval ("True"), true)
+%!assert (pyeval ("False"), false)
 %!assert (class (pyeval ("True")), "logical")
 %!assert (class (pyeval ("False")), "logical")
 
+## FIXME: these will change when dict, list, and tuple are not converted
+%!assert (pyeval ("{'x': 1, 'y': 2}"), struct ("x", 1, "y", 2))
+%!assert (pyeval ("[1, 2, 3]"), {1, 2, 3})
+%!assert (pyeval ("(4, 5, 6)"), {4, 5, 6})
+
 %!test
 %! % FIXME: this will change when we stop converting lists
 %! z = pyeval ("[1, [21, 22], 3, [41, [421, 422], 43]]");