[Python-3000] Pre-PEP: Easy Text File Decoding

[Michael Chermside]

Paul Prescod writes:
     [... Pre-PEP proposal ...]

Quick thoughts:

  * I like it. Good work.
  * I agree with Guido: "open" is the right spelling for this.
  * I agree with Paul: mandatory specification is the way to go.  
10,000 different blog entries, tutorials, and cookbook recipies can  
recomend using "guess" if you don't know what you're doing. Or they  
can all recomend using "site". Or they can all recomend using "utf-8".  
I'm not sure what they'll all recomend, and that's enough reason for  
me to require the user to say. If we later decide that one is an  
acceptable default, we could make it optional in release 3.1, 3.2, or  
3.3... but if we make it optional from the start then it can never  
become required.

Other thoughts after reading everyone else's replies:

  * Guessing. Hmm. Broad topic. If the option for guessing were  
spelled "guess" (rather than, say "autodetect") then I would have been  
scared off from using it in "production code" but I would still feel  
free to use in quick-and-dirty scripting. On the other hand, I'm not  
sure I'm a good "typical programmer". Fortunately, your PEP works fine  
whether or not "guess" is allowed, so I can support your PEP without  
having to commit on the idea of having a "guess" option.

-- Michael Chermside