[Python-Dev] file() or open()? (original) (raw)

Paul Prescod paul at prescod.net
Thu Jul 8 06:16:33 CEST 2004


Guido van Rossum wrote:

...

Maybe you'll change your mind when open() can return other objects besides files. In the mean time, let's use the compatibility argument. Changing things just because a new century has started sounds like a fad to me -- IOW the argument "it's the modern thing to do" usually doesn't convince me.

I don't understand why they are both builtins. Why provide two bindings for the same thing? I always presumed (as others did) that there was a new way and an old way maintained for backwards compatibility.

Paul Prescod



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