Compiler directives in the source

[Paul Rubin]

Michael Hudson <mwh at python.net> writes:
> It might have been better if the coding cookie was
> 
> %encoding: utf8
> 
> or something, but then you'd probably have to duplicate it: once for
> Python, once for Emacs... I guess emacs could probably have been
> taught about Python's convention rather than vice-versa.

Python could accept
  
  %encoding: -*- utf8 -*-

or something like

  % -*- encoding: utf8 -*-

or even

  %encoding: -*- encoding: utf8 -*-

and then both Python and Emacs could understand it.