[Python-Dev] 'text' mode rears its ugly head again
Bill Janssen
janssen at parc.com
Mon Sep 17 20:08:27 CEST 2007
> > differentiation between between text files and binary files, a bad
> > idea introduced by Windows and perpetuated (apparently) by Python. I
> > can't believe this wasn't eliminated in py3k!
>
> The binary/text distinction is being increased in Py3k rather than
> reduced (the API for binary files uses bytes, the API for text files
> uses Unicode strings).
Actually, it's not so much the differentiation that bothers me, as it
is the default of assuming "text". I think the default should be
"binary", and getting the file in "text" mode should require extra
effort. It should be 'rt', not 'rb' -- an extra qualifier for text
mode, not for binary mode. That would eliminate a lot of the little
bugs like this one that crop up in ports to the ineffable assemblage
that is Windows.
Bill
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