diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/PythonHadoopUtil.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/PythonHadoopUtil.scala
index 452794d8e6379..4fe5800df917e 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/PythonHadoopUtil.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/PythonHadoopUtil.scala
@@ -23,15 +23,13 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration
 import org.apache.hadoop.io._
 
 
-/**
- * Utilities for working with Python objects -> Hadoop-related objects
- */
+/** Utilities for working with Python objects -> Hadoop-related objects */
 private[python] object PythonHadoopUtil {
 
   /**
-   * Convert a Map of properties to a [[org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration]]
+   * Convert a [[java.util.Map]] of properties to a [[org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration]]
    */
-  def mapToConf(map: java.util.Map[String, String]) = {
+  def mapToConf(map: java.util.Map[String, String]): Configuration = {
     import collection.JavaConversions._
     val conf = new Configuration()
     map.foreach{ case (k, v) => conf.set(k, v) }
@@ -42,7 +40,7 @@ private[python] object PythonHadoopUtil {
    * Merges two configurations, returns a copy of left with keys from right overwriting
    * any matching keys in left
    */
-  def mergeConfs(left: Configuration, right: Configuration) = {
+  def mergeConfs(left: Configuration, right: Configuration): Configuration = {
     import collection.JavaConversions._
     val copy = new Configuration(left)
     right.iterator().foreach(entry => copy.set(entry.getKey, entry.getValue))
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/SerDeUtil.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/SerDeUtil.scala
index ed265008a8c2b..4585435c21313 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/SerDeUtil.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/SerDeUtil.scala
@@ -24,11 +24,8 @@ import scala.util.Success
 import scala.util.Failure
 import net.razorvine.pickle.Pickler
 
-/**
- * Utilities for serialization / deserialization between Python and Java, using MsgPack.
- * Also contains utilities for converting [[org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable]] ->
- * Scala objects and primitives
- */
+
+/** Utilities for serialization / deserialization between Python and Java, using Pickle. */
 private[python] object SerDeUtil extends Logging {
 
   /**
@@ -37,12 +34,12 @@ private[python] object SerDeUtil extends Logging {
    * representation is serialized
    */
   def rddToPython[K, V](rdd: RDD[(K, V)]): RDD[Array[Byte]] = {
-    rdd.mapPartitions{ iter =>
+    rdd.mapPartitions { iter =>
       val pickle = new Pickler
       var keyFailed = false
       var valueFailed = false
       var firstRecord = true
-      iter.map{ case (k, v) =>
+      iter.map { case (k, v) =>
         if (firstRecord) {
           Try {
             pickle.dumps(Array(k, v))
@@ -57,29 +54,32 @@ private[python] object SerDeUtil extends Logging {
               }
               (kt, vt) match {
                 case (Failure(kf), Failure(vf)) =>
-                  log.warn(s"""Failed to pickle Java object as key: ${k.getClass.getSimpleName};
+                  logWarning(s"""Failed to pickle Java object as key: ${k.getClass.getSimpleName};
                     Error: ${kf.getMessage}""")
-                  log.warn(s"""Failed to pickle Java object as value: ${v.getClass.getSimpleName};
+                  logWarning(s"""Failed to pickle Java object as value: ${v.getClass.getSimpleName};
                     Error: ${vf.getMessage}""")
                   keyFailed = true
                   valueFailed = true
                 case (Failure(kf), _) =>
-                  log.warn(s"""Failed to pickle Java object as key: ${k.getClass.getSimpleName};
+                  logWarning(s"""Failed to pickle Java object as key: ${k.getClass.getSimpleName};
                     Error: ${kf.getMessage}""")
                   keyFailed = true
                 case (_, Failure(vf)) =>
-                  log.warn(s"""Failed to pickle Java object as value: ${v.getClass.getSimpleName};
+                  logWarning(s"""Failed to pickle Java object as value: ${v.getClass.getSimpleName};
                     Error: ${vf.getMessage}""")
                   valueFailed = true
               }
           }
           firstRecord = false
         }
-        (keyFailed, valueFailed) match {
-          case (true, true) => pickle.dumps(Array(k.toString, v.toString))
-          case (true, false) => pickle.dumps(Array(k.toString, v))
-          case (false, true) => pickle.dumps(Array(k, v.toString))
-          case (false, false) => pickle.dumps(Array(k, v))
+        if (keyFailed && valueFailed) {
+          pickle.dumps(Array(k.toString, v.toString))
+        } else if (keyFailed) {
+          pickle.dumps(Array(k.toString, v))
+        } else if (!keyFailed && valueFailed) {
+          pickle.dumps(Array(k, v.toString))
+        } else {
+          pickle.dumps(Array(k, v))
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/WriteInputFormatTestDataGenerator.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/WriteInputFormatTestDataGenerator.scala
index b4890f4e259ae..707c01d32ed0f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/WriteInputFormatTestDataGenerator.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/python/WriteInputFormatTestDataGenerator.scala
@@ -58,9 +58,15 @@ case class TestWritable(var str: String, var int: Int, var double: Double) exten
  * This object contains method to generate SequenceFile test data and write it to a
  * given directory (probably a temp directory)
  */
-object WriteInputFormatTestDataGenerator extends App {
+object WriteInputFormatTestDataGenerator {
   import SparkContext._
 
+  def main(args: Array[String]) {
+    val path = args(0)
+    val sc = new JavaSparkContext("local[4]", "test-writables")
+    generateData(path, sc)
+  }
+
   def generateData(path: String, jsc: JavaSparkContext) {
     val sc = jsc.sc
 
@@ -99,8 +105,7 @@ object WriteInputFormatTestDataGenerator extends App {
     sc.parallelize(data, numSlices = 2)
       .map{ case (k, v) =>
       (new IntWritable(k), new ArrayWritable(classOf[DoubleWritable], v.map(new DoubleWritable(_))))
-    }
-      .saveAsNewAPIHadoopFile[SequenceFileOutputFormat[IntWritable, ArrayWritable]](arrPath)
+    }.saveAsNewAPIHadoopFile[SequenceFileOutputFormat[IntWritable, ArrayWritable]](arrPath)
 
     // Create test data for MapWritable, with keys DoubleWritable and values Text
     val mapData = Seq(