Python Programming Overview 3

Python Programming Overview 3

(1) Source File Encoding

UTF-8

• Stands for 8-bit Unicode Transitional Format
  • Capable of encoding all possible characters in Unicode
• The dominant character encoding for the Web (81.4% of all web pages as of 11/2014)
• Backward-compatible with ASCII

Encoding Source

• Most common way is to define a special comment to define the encoding:
  • #!/usr/bin/env python
  • # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
• Dependent on the editor you use

The Main Point

• You typically don’t need to worry about this
• In Python 3, everything is encoded in UTF-8 by default
  • In Python 2.7, ASCII encoding is the default
• You can still specify Unicode string literals with the “u”” delimiter (ex: u’ a Unicode string’)

Vim example

 (2) Comments

Two Types of Comments

• In PEP8, two types of comments are defined
  • Block comments
  • Inline comments
• Both are prefaced with a # character

Block Comments

• Used to document the code that follows them
  • Ident to the same level as the code being documented if necessary
• Paragraphs are separated with a newline that also has a # symbol

Inline Comments

• Used on the same line as a statement
• Often unnecessary, but if they are necessary, use them sparingly
• Possibly distracting if they only state the obvious