Eric Roby writes:

What purpose does the compiled files play in the scheme of things? I deleted z2.pyc to see if it would get re-created and the server started without it. I am confused ... They contain Python byte code. Using the byte code is more efficient than using the source. But Python can also use the source....

Python 1.5.2 does not use the byte code, when you start a script explicitly, e.g. python z2.py. Dieter