[Python-Dev] End of the line

[Brian Lloyd]

> [Tim, notes that Perl line-at-a-time text mode input runs 3x 
> faster than
>  Python's on his platform]
> 
> And much to my surprise, it turns out Perl reads lines a 
> character at a time
> too!  And they do not reimplement stdio.  But they do cheat.
>
> [some notes on the cheating and PerlIO api snipped]
> 
> The usual *implementation* of these guys is as straight macro 
> substitution
> to the corresponding C stdio call.  It's possible to 
> implement them some
> other way, but I don't see anything in the source that 
> suggests anyone has
> done so, except possibly to build it all on AT&T's SFIO lib.

Hmm - speed bonuses not withstanding, an implementation of
such a beast in the Python sources would've helped a lot to
reduce the ugly hairy gymnastics required to get Python going
on Win CE, where (until very recently) there was no concept
of most of the things you expect to find in stdio... 


Brian Lloyd        brian@digicool.com
Software Engineer  540.371.6909              
Digital Creations  http://www.digicool.com