[Python-Dev] The bytes type

A.M. Kuchling amk at amk.ca
Fri Jan 12 19:22:48 CET 2007


On Fri, Jan 12, 2007 at 09:51:25AM -0800, Guido van Rossum wrote:
> I'm afraid that PEP is not up to date; I don't think I used it as a
> reference when I coded up the current bytes type in Py3k. Whenever the
> PEP matches the implementation, we can be confident that we have the
> right design. Where they differ, I'd be inclined to believe the code,
> unless it's a matter of an as-yet-unimplemented feature, or a
> temporary measure while we still have the 8-bit str type.

Is the Py3k bytes type considered 'finished', then, or at least
'largely correct', or is it still experimental?  I could backport the
type to the 2.x branch; it could be a new feature in 2.6 and then be
added to Jython.

2.6 wouldn't go changing existing APIs to begin requiring or returning
the bytes type[*], of course, but extensions and new modules might use
it.

--amk

[*] Anyone else keep wanting to write "byte type"?



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