[Python-Dev] Optimization targets

[Jeremy Hylton]

On Thu, 2004-04-15 at 10:27, Guido van Rossum wrote:
> > >     http://starship.python.net/crew/mwh/hacks/speeding-python.html
> 
> I recently met Mario Wolczko who worked on the Self language, and
> asked him if he had one sentence of advice for Python.  His response
> was: Just-in-time compilation.

It seems like an obvious, but labor intensive solution to me.  I didn't
get a chance to pursue discussion much with Jim Hugunin or Mike Salib,
but it would be interesting to know why they focus on static analysis;
Self started out with static analysis but got better performance with
runtime type feedback
(http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/labs/oocsb/papers/toplas96.shtml).

Another question that I'd love to hear the answer to: What's the
difference between Pysco and something like this Self implementation or
the HotSpot Java implementation?  I've never read a clear explanation of
what Pysco does or how it compares to other systems that do dynamic
compilation.

Jeremy