diff --git a/examples/wiki_example/example_decoder.py b/examples/wiki_example/example_decoder.py
index 8a0ba7b81c1bebdd2fb291ebff51a713fcaac719..a72533062a083eea23c67bbb4843ad666168ea09 100755
--- a/examples/wiki_example/example_decoder.py
+++ b/examples/wiki_example/example_decoder.py
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ import labcomm
 import sys
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    d = labcomm.Decoder(labcomm.StreamReader(open(sys.argv[1])), sys.argv[2])
+    version = sys.argv[2] if len(sys.argv) == 3 else "LabComm2013"
+    d = labcomm.Decoder(labcomm.StreamReader(open(sys.argv[1])), version)
 
     while True:
         try:
diff --git a/examples/wiki_example/run b/examples/wiki_example/run
index 62c288e6ef6a93d89f511bcd8727ecb70aaea4c1..c2f3bd5d0c0a91665395beffbe0c1cf692fb53bf 100755
--- a/examples/wiki_example/run
+++ b/examples/wiki_example/run
@@ -21,4 +21,4 @@ javac -cp ../../lib/java:. *.java
 # Run through all executables (c->java->Python)
 ./example_encoder one two
 java -cp ../../lib/java:. example_decoder_encoder example.encoded example.javaencoded
-PYTHONPATH=../../lib/python ./example_decoder.py example.javaencoded LabComm2013
+PYTHONPATH=../../lib/python ./example_decoder.py example.javaencoded 
diff --git a/lib/python/labcomm/LabComm.py b/lib/python/labcomm/LabComm.py
index 4be9f8b9193610b9cb86a75256ae4cee636ea9a3..5b36d852f101d77e7b6eb39783e7c608928a80a3 100644
--- a/lib/python/labcomm/LabComm.py
+++ b/lib/python/labcomm/LabComm.py
@@ -553,7 +553,7 @@ class Codec(object):
         
 
 class Encoder(Codec):
-    def __init__(self, writer, version):
+    def __init__(self, writer, version="LabComm2013"):
         super(Encoder, self).__init__()
         self.writer = writer
         self.versoin = version
@@ -634,7 +634,7 @@ class Encoder(Codec):
 #        self.pack("!i%ds" % len(s), len(s), s)
 
 class Decoder(Codec):
-    def __init__(self, reader, version):
+    def __init__(self, reader, version="LabComm2013"):
         super(Decoder, self).__init__()
         self.reader = reader
         self.version = version