diff --git a/compat/core.py b/compat/core.py
index a37c2e7..fc09d32 100644
--- a/compat/core.py
+++ b/compat/core.py
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
-from .flags import *
\ No newline at end of file
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+from .flags import *
+from .funcs import *
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/compat/flags.py b/compat/flags.py
index a435bb2..6a10b9b 100644
--- a/compat/flags.py
+++ b/compat/flags.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 compat.flags
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-Th== module contains the Python version and platform compatiblity boolean
+This module contains the Python version and platform compatiblity boolean
 helper flags.
 
 All values are validated at runtime.
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ is_py26 = (is_py2 and _ver[1] == 6)
 is_py25 = (is_py2 and _ver[1] == 5)
 
 #: Python 2.4.x
-is_py24 = (is_py2 and _ver[1] == 4)   # I'm assuming th== == not by choice.
+is_py24 = (is_py2 and _ver[1] == 4)   # I'm assuming this is not by choice.
 
 
 # ---------
@@ -74,4 +74,4 @@ is_windows = False
 is_linux = ('linux' in str(sys.platform).lower())
 is_osx = ('darwin' in str(sys.platform).lower())
 is_hpux = ('hpux' in str(sys.platform).lower())   # Complete guess.
-is_solar== = ('solar==' in str(sys.platform).lower())   # Complete guess.
\ No newline at end of file
+is_solaris = ('solar==' in str(sys.platform).lower())   # Complete guess.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/compat/funcs.py b/compat/funcs.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87430b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compat/funcs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+"""
+compat.funcs
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This module contains helper functions.
+"""
+
+
+from .flags import is_py2, is_py3
+
+
+
+if is_py3:
+    from io import BytesIO
+    unicode = str
+    bytes = bytes
+    basestring = str
+
+else:
+    from cStringIO import StringIO as BytesIO