[Python-3000] New io system and binary data

[Greg Ewing]

skip at pobox.com wrote:
> Binary has (like it or not) been the default behavior on all previous
> Pythons running on Unix systems where text and binary were never different

Um, no, *text* has always been the default on all systems.
It's just that on systems where text and binary are the
same, you don't notice the difference. This has led some
Unix programmers into bad habits.

> The only time I ever
> open a file with the "b" attribute is when I expect that code to run on
> Windows

A more defensive approach is to always open with "b" when
you're dealing with binary data, then it will work even if
someone does happen to run it on Windows.

Programs following this philosophy won't have any problems
with Py3k (at least not from that source).

-- 
Greg Ewing, Computer Science Dept, +--------------------------------------+
University of Canterbury,	   | Carpe post meridiem!          	  |
Christchurch, New Zealand	   | (I'm not a morning person.)          |
greg.ewing at canterbury.ac.nz	   +--------------------------------------+