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Date: Tue, 17 May 2011 11:47:01 -0700
From: Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us>
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Subject: Python 3.x and bytes
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Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.python:5591

In Python 3 one can say

--> huh = bytes(5)

Since the bytes type is actually a list of integers, I would have 
expected this to have huh being a bytestring with one element -- the 
integer 5.  Actually, what you get is:

--> huh
b'\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00'

or five null bytes.  Note that this is an immutable type, so you cannot 
go in later and say

--> huh[3] = 9
Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: 'bytes' object does not support item assignment


So, out of curiosity, does anyone actually use this, um, feature?

~Ethan~