[Python-Dev] Allowing u.encode() to return non-strings

["Martin v. Löwis"]

Bill Janssen wrote:
> I assume, though, that the args to "read()" and friends are still
> about bytes.

Yes. It is not possible to determine, in advance, the number of
bytes needed to decode a given number of characters. Therefore, a
codec typically needs to either read more bytes than requested,
or return less characters (if the bytes read don't happen to
end on a character boundary).

So the size parameter to .read() is just a hint - a codec might
chose to completely ignore it.

Regards,
Martin