Sick wheels

Understanding wheel files and Python packaging trade-offs

This is a medium-difficulty Python packaging question that tests whether you understand the practical differences between wheel files and source distributions. It's the kind of detail that separates candidates who have built and shipped Python projects from those who have only consumed them.

Wheel files (.whl) are the modern standard for distributing pre-built Python packages, and they offer several concrete advantages over source distributions (.tar.gz or .zip). To answer this question correctly, you need to reason about what wheels actually provide: faster installation, no compilation step on the end user's machine, platform-specific binary compatibility, and reproducibility. Understanding which of these are real advantages and which are misconceptions requires hands-on familiarity with the Python packaging ecosystem.

• Installation performance and build avoidance
• Platform wheel tags and ABI compatibility
• Source distribution metadata and build requirements
• When source distributions remain necessary