[Python-Dev] PEP 3147 ready for pronouncement and merging (original) (raw)

Terry Reedy tjreedy at udel.edu
Fri Apr 16 20:09:37 CEST 2010

On 4/15/2010 11:01 PM, Guido van Rossum wrote:

pyc files inside of the _pycache_ directories contain a magic identifier in their file names. These are mnemonic tags for the actual magic numbers used by the importer. For example, in Python 3.2, we could use the hexlified [10] magic number as a unique (Aside: when you search Wikipedia for "hexlify" it says "did you mean: heavily?" :-)

I regard 'hexlify', as used in binascii, to be a misspelling of 'hexify', whether it originated with Python or elsewhere. 'Hexify' itself may not be an official dictionary word but it at least follows a normal pattern of derivation. I have not bothered to say anything before because correcting the misspelling of the module function would break back compatibility. But I think its usage should stop there.

Terry Jan Reedy

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