Merged revisions 84827-84829 via svnmerge from
svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/branches/py3k
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r84827 | antoine.pitrou | 2010-09-15 11:58:26 +0200 (mer., 15 sept. 2010) | 3 lines
Add a glossary entry for file objects.
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r84828 | antoine.pitrou | 2010-09-15 12:08:31 +0200 (mer., 15 sept. 2010) | 3 lines
Update file-related information in the FAQ.
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r84829 | antoine.pitrou | 2010-09-15 13:11:28 +0200 (mer., 15 sept. 2010) | 3 lines
Add cross-references to the glossary entry for file objects.
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diff --git a/Doc/glossary.rst b/Doc/glossary.rst
index 40f0869..5ecf848 100644
--- a/Doc/glossary.rst
+++ b/Doc/glossary.rst
@@ -178,6 +178,23 @@
A module written in C or C++, using Python's C API to interact with the core and
with user code.
+ file object
+ An object exposing a file-oriented API (with methods such as
+ :meth:`read()` or :meth:`write()`) to an underlying resource.
+ Depending on the way it was created, a file object can mediate access
+ to a real on-disk file or to another other type of storage or
+ communication device (for example standard input/output, in-memory
+ buffers, sockets, pipes, etc.). File objects are also called
+ :dfn:`file-like objects` or :dfn:`streams`.
+
+ There are actually three categories of file objects: raw binary
+ files, buffered binary files and text files. Their interfaces are
+ defined in the :mod:`io` module. The canonical way to create a
+ file object is by using the :func:`open` function.
+
+ file-like object
+ A synonym for :term:`file object`.
+
finder
An object that tries to find the :term:`loader` for a module. It must
implement a method named :meth:`find_module`. See :pep:`302` for