redundant imports

[Steve Holden]

Peter Hansen wrote:
> max(01)* wrote:
> 
>> this leads me to another question. since *.pyc files are automatically 
>> created the first time an import statement in executed on a given 
>> module, i guess that if i ship a program with modules for use in a 
>> directory where the user has no write privileges then i must ship the 
>> *.pyc files along too. right?
> 
> 
> Not required except for performance reasons.  If the .pyc
> files don't exist, the .py files are recompiled and the
> resulting bytecode is simply held in memory and not cached
> and the next startup will recompile all over again.
> 
> Note also that the main file (the one invoke from the
> command line) is never cached in a .pyc...
> 
> -Peter
Also, beware that you ship the right .pyc files - they are 
version-dependent, so shipping 2.3 binaries to a 2.4 user will actually 
cause a small slow-down, since the interpreter will have to check the 
.pyc's for the correct magic number before ignoring them.

regards
  Steve
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