[Python-Dev] PEP 293, Codec Error Handling Callbacks

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
>>I'd like to put the following PEP up for pronouncement. Walter
>>is currently on vacation, but he asked me to already go ahead
>>with the process.
>>
>>	http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0293.html
>>
>>I like the patch a lot and the implementation strategy is very
>>interesting as well (just wish that classes were new types --
>>then things could run a tad faster and the patch would be
>>simpler).
>>
>>The basic idea of the patch is to provide a way to elegantly
>>handle error situations in codecs which go beyond the standard
>>cases 'ignore', 'replace' and 'strict', e.g. to automagically
>>escape problem case, to log errors for later review or to
>>fetch additional information for the proper handling at coding
>>time (for example, fetching entity definitions from a URL).
> 
> 
> I know you want me to pronounce on this, but I'd like to abstain.

Ok.

> I have no experience in using codecs to have any kind of sense about
> whether this is good or not.  If you feel confident that it's good,
> you can make the decision on your own.  If you'r not yet confident, I
> suggest getting more review.  I do note that the patch is humungous
> (isn't everything related to Unicode? :-) so might need more review
> before it goes it.

Walter has written a pretty good test suite for the patch
and I have a good feeling about it. I'd like Walter to check
it into CVS and then see whether the alpha tests bring up any
quirks. The patch only touches the codecs and adds some new
exceptions. There are no other changes involved.

I think that together with PEP 263 (source code encoding) this
is a great step forward in Python's i18n capabilities.

BTW, the test script contains some examples of how to put the
error callbacks to use:

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/download.php?group_id=5470&atid=305470&file_id=27815&aid=432401

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
CEO eGenix.com Software GmbH
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