Compiling a Python File on Mac OS X Tiger

[Jacob Page]

Asad Habib wrote:
> Hello. I am working on Tiger and wanted to find out how to compile a
> Python (.py) file into a .pyc file and then into a .pyo file. Can the
> compilation be achieved within the interpreter? Also, I am
> new to Python and wanted to know the difference between .pyc and .pyo
> files. Is this comparison similar to C? Any help would be appreciated.
> Thanks.

http://www.network-theory.co.uk/docs/pytut/tut_48.html has some good 
explanations.  To generate the .pyo files from the interpreter, add the 
-O option.

The difference between .pyc and .pyo files is that .pyo files are 
optimized a bit; for example docstrings are removed (which will break 
pydoc tests).  According to the above link, .pyo files don't run any 
faster; they just load faster.