.pyc files

[Skip Montanaro]

    newt> As suggested, I want to compile from within IDE so that my .pyc
    newt> file gets updated.  Perhaps there is an alternative approach
    newt> though.  Is it possible to force an import to reproduce the .pyc
    newt> file? e.g. if I have a file newt_i.py, which is imported by
    newt> newt.py, then when I first run it newt_i.pyc get 'compiled' to
    newt> newt_i.pyc. If I then change newt_i.py, and run newt.py, then it
    newt> will still import the existing newt_i.pyc, not a .pyc version of
    newt> the new file. Is this correct?

If the .pyc file is out-of-date wrt to the .py file, the source will get
byte-compiled and a new .pyc file written automatically.

    newt> Would reload(newt_i) (within the relevent code) do the trick?

Yes.

Python just does the right thing.  I've never encountered a situation where
it didn't.  Don't worry about it until you need to and you'll die with one
less grey hair. ;-)

Skip