docs: def encode(self, value):
          """
          Return a bytestring representation of the value
          """
          if isinstance(value, Token):
              return b(value.value)        
          if isinstance(value, bytes):
              return value
          elif isinstance(value, (int, long)):
              value = b(str(value))        
          elif isinstance(value, float):
              value = repr(value)
          elif not isinstance(value, basestring):
              value = str(value)
          if isinstance(value, unicode):
              value = value.encode(self.encoding, self.encoding_errors)
          return value