I have a string of 1s and 0s that represents a binary number (e.g. '00101101'). How would I convert that to an actual num? If I use int(), Python assumes decimal and creates a number that's much ...

Parameters: buffer: A bytes array to extract strings from. All strings within this buffer will be extracted. min_chars: (default 4) Minimum number of characters in a valid extracted string.

Because it allows you to separate strings that use bytes from strings that use Unicode already in Python 2, and to continue that explicit difference when you get to Python 3 as well. I should add that ...

Strings, numbers (integers and floats alike), tuples, and built-in singleton objects (True, False, and None) are all common types to use as keys. A given key is unique to a given dictionary ...