On Sun, Feb 10, 2013 at 10:10 PM, Rodrick Brown <rodrick.br...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Subject: cafebabe python macosx easter egg?
>
> $ hexdump -n4 -C $(which python) | awk '{print $2 $3 $4 $5 }'
cafebabe~ $ # Huh. Let's google... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexspeak : "0xCAFEBABE ("cafe babe") is used by Mach-O to identify Universal object files, and by the Java programming language to identify Java bytecode class files." Some background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach-O : "Mach-O […] is a file format for executables […] used by most systems based on the Mach kernel" (OS X's kernel is based on the Mach kernel.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_binary : "A universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or […] Intel 64-based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a fat binary." Confirmation: "OS X ABI Mach-O File Format Reference": https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/MachORuntime/Reference/reference.html : struct fat_header [...] Fields: magic An integer containing the value 0xCAFEBABE in big-endian byte order format. So, there you have it. Mach-O and Java bytecode just happen to use the same magic number. Coincidence. Cheers, Chris R. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
