[Python-Dev] just say no...

[Guido van Rossum]

>     >> FYI, the next version of the proposal ...  File objects opened in
>     >> text mode will use "t#" and binary ones use "s#".
> 
>     Tim> Am I the only one who sees magical distinctions between text and
>     Tim> binary mode as a Really Bad Idea? 
> 
> No.
> 
>     Tim> I wouldn't have guessed the Unix natives here would quietly
>     Tim> acquiesce to importing a bit of Windows madness <wink>.
> 
> We figured you and Guido would come to our rescue... ;-)

Don't count on me.  My brain is totally cross-platform these days, and
writing "rb" or "wb" for files containing binary data is second nature
for me.  I actually *like* it.

Anyway, the Unicode stuff ought to have a wrapper open(filename, mode,
encoding) where the 'b' will be added to the mode if you don't give it
and it's needed.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)