SciTools/iris — pull request #787 by pp-mo (2013-10-08 13:12:09+00:00)
Title: Provide utility function "file_is_newer_than" for results caching.

A highly simplified approach to the problems presented by automatic load pickling, (which was recently tried + abandoned for lack of agreement or insuperable problems ?)

The idea is to help the user manage their own results cacheing,
for example ...
```
if iris.util.file_is_newer(dump_filepath, my_source_specs):
data = pickle.load(dump_filepath)
else:
data = iris.load(my_source_specs, callback=twiddle_bits)
```

The key object of this approach is to have the user take responsibility for all the problems that make an automated approach too difficult and dodgy! Hopefully the docstrings explain the problems + caveats well enough for this.