using a custom, nearly-identical macro. This probably changes how some of
these functions are compiled, which may result in fractionally slower (or
faster) execution. Considering the nature of traversal, visiting much of the
address space in unpredictable patterns, I'd argue the code readability and
maintainability is well worth it ;P

Convert Py_ssize_t using PyInt_FromSsize_t

In C++, it's an error to pass a string literal to a char* function
without a const_cast().  Rather than require every C++ extension
module to put a cast around string literals, fix the API to state the
const-ness.

I focused on parts of the API where people usually pass literals:
PyArg_ParseTuple() and friends, Py_BuildValue(), PyMethodDef, the type
slots, etc.  Predictably, there were a large set of functions that
needed to be fixed as a result of these changes.  The most pervasive
change was to make the keyword args list passed to
PyArg_ParseTupleAndKewords() to be a const char *kwlist[].

One cast was required as a result of the changes:  A type object
mallocs the memory for its tp_doc slot and later frees it.
PyTypeObject says that tp_doc is const char *; but if the type was
created by type_new(), we know it is safe to cast to char *.

* Used the flag to optimize set.__contains__(), dict.__contains__(),
  dict.__getitem__(), and list.__getitem__().

__module__ is the string name of the module the function was defined
in, just like __module__ of classes.  In some cases, particularly for
C functions, the __module__ may be None.

Change PyCFunction_New() from a function to a macro, but keep an
unused copy of the function around so that we don't change the binary
API.

Change pickle's save_global() to use whichmodule() if __module__ is
None, but add the __module__ logic to whichmodule() since it might be
used outside of pickle.

Refactor code in PyCFunction_Call giving a modest (tiny) speed boost,
a slight improvement in semantics (now detects invalid flag combinations),
and (arguably) improved clarity (making it blindingly clear which flag
combinations are allowed).  All this comes at a cost of a few lines of
code duplication.

* Folded test for METH_KEYWORDS into the switch/case.
* Deferred testing for an empty dictionary until when and where needed.
* Make a similar deferral for filling the "size" variable.
* Inverted the dictionary test so that the common case falls though
  instead of making a jump.