[Python-Dev] Simplify the file-like-object interface
Bill Janssen
janssen at parc.com
Wed Sep 14 02:52:16 CEST 2005
> This [text/binary] distinction is
> supported by the basic file operations in the C library. To open a
> text file in binary mode is technically an error (although in many OSs
> you'll get away with it).
It's one of those "technical" errors that really isn't an error (from
Python). On the other hand, opening a file in text mode will cause
real data damage to binary files on Windows. Let some
platform-specific library for that platform preserve it, if it cares
to.
I see no point in keeping this distinction in Python, even for those
platforms bone-headed enough to preserve it. And the default
certainly shouldn't be to the mode which loses data.
Bill
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