[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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