Where possible, please follow PEP8 with regard to coding style.

Furthermore, triple-quotes should always be """, single quotes are ' unless using "
would result in less escaping within the string.

All functionality should be available in pure Python. Optional C
implementations may be written for performance reasons, but should never
replace the Python implementation. The C implementations should follow the
kernel/git coding style.

Where possible please include updates to NEWS along with your improvements.