title: Opening a file for append
body: <p>I just had a passing thought and figured what better place to ask then right here.  Out of curiosity, does anyone know if opening a file for append, like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>file_name = "abc"
  file_handle = open(file_name,"a")
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is essentially the same as opening a file for writing and seeking to the end:</p>
  
  <pre><code>file_name = "abc"
  file_handle = open(file_name,"w")
  file_handle.seek(0,2) # 0 for offset, 2 for end-of-file
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm just wondering if opening a file for append is essentially doing the second block, open for write followed by a seek to the end of the file, behind the scenes.</p>