[Python-Dev] Re: native code compiler? (or, OCaml vs. Python)

[Guido van Rossum]

> Guido van Rossum wrote:
> > I'm in.  Given how low you set your stakes, I don't think you're very
> > confident, so I'd like to call your bluff. :-)
> 
> Any opinion on where to spend effort?  I was thinking of dusting off the
> register VM code (aka rattlesnake).  OTOH, perhaps the non-local
> namespace optimizations would give more bang for the buck.
> 
>   Neil

I was thinking it might be most effective to have a little
conversation with Dan's potential sponsors.  But maybe that's because
my first name is Guido...  ;-)

Seriously, I expect Dan to lose without any effort on our part, but if
we want to make an effort, I think that there could be some
low-hanging fruit in inlining certain builtins (e.g. len, range,
xrange) that as far as we know aren't shadowed by globals.  Is that
what you call non-local namespace optimizations?  A new VM design
would be a major upheaval, but if we can pull it off it would
certainly not be a bad idea.  John Aycock and some of his students
have a design of a new VM that might be worth looking into.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)