[Python-Dev] Python 3.x and bytes (original) (raw)

Nick Coghlan ncoghlan at gmail.com
Wed May 18 05:40:14 CEST 2011

On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 1:23 PM, Robert Collins <robertc at robertcollins.net> wrote:

The Python 2 confusion was deplorable, but it doesn't make the Python 3 situation better: its different, but still very awkward for people to write code that is correct and fast in.

When Python 3 goes wrong, it raises exceptions or executes the wrong control flow. That's a vast improvement over silently corrupting the data stream the way that 2.x does.

If it really bothers anyone, they should feel free to implement and promote their own "ascii" data type on PyPI. If it is explicitly restricted to 7 bit characters, it may even avoid many of the problems of silent corruption that the 2.x str had. Speculation on python-dev isn't going to be convincing here, though: only code in real use will be effective on that front.

As far as the memory and runtime overhead goes, yes, that's a real problem (indeed, that overhead is why bytes and bytearray have as many str-like features as they do). PEP 393 is intended to at least alleviate the memory burden of the Unicode text.

Cheers, Nick.

-- Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia

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