[Python-Dev] file modes (was: just say no...)

[Mark Hammond]

[MAL]

> If you are already using the buffer feature for e.g. array which
> also implement "s#" but don't support "t#" for obvious reasons
> you'll run into trouble, but then: arrays are binary data,
> so changing from text mode to binary mode is well worth the
> effort even if you just consider it a nuisance.

Breaking existing code that works should be considered more than a
nuisance.

However, one answer would be to have "t#" _prefer_ to use the text
buffer, but not insist on it.  eg, the logic for processing "t#" could
check if the text buffer is supported, and if not move back to the
blob buffer.

This should mean that all existing code still works, except for
objects that support both buffers to mean different things.  AFAIK
there are no objects that qualify today, so it should work fine.

Unix users _will_ need to revisit their thinking about "text mode" vs
"binary mode" when writing these new objects (such as Unicode), but
IMO that is more than reasonable - Unix users dont bother qualifying
the open mode of their files, simply because it has no effect on their
files.  If for certain objects or requirements there _is_ a
distinction, then new code can start to think these issues through.
"Portable File IO" will simply be extended from simply "portable among
all platforms" to "portable among all platforms and objects".

Mark.