[Python-Dev] PEP 263 -- Python Source Code Encoding

[Neal Norwitz]

Skip Montanaro wrote:
> 
>     >> Python uses the 7-bit ASCII character set for program text and string
>     >> literals.  8-bit characters may be used in string literals and
>     >> comments but their interpretation is platform dependent; the proper
>     >> way to insert 8-bit characters in string literals is by using octal
>     >> or hexadecimal escape sequences.
> 
>     mal> It's a fact of life that users don't read reference manuals, but
>     mal> simply write programs and feel good if they happen to work :-)
> 
> Perhaps a warning should be emitted by the compiler if a plain string
> literal is found that contains 8-bit characters.  Better yet, perhaps Neal
> can add this to PyChecker if he hasn't already...

Not yet, but I've been watching this issue as well as string interpolation.
Whenever a final direction is decided, I will update checker to warn
about potential problems.

Neal