Assorted Questions regarding the future of Python...

[Jeremy Hylton]

>>>>> "FP" == François Pinard <pinard at iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

  FP> I'm curious.  Does Python use standard optimisation techniques
  FP> on that byte code (CSE, strength reduction, and all that)?  I
  FP> would be tempted to guess that the stack machine receives code
  FP> that pretty closely resemble the source code.  Would the stack

Good guess!

  FP> machine be able to express optimisations?  For example, could we
  FP> copy or exchange arbitrary stack elements?

Take a look at the Optimizing Python session at the last Python
conference. 

http://www.foretec.com/python/workshops/1998-11/proceedings.html

In particular, see Skip's paper.

http://www.foretec.com/python/workshops/1998-11/proceedings/papers/montanaro/montanaro.html

Jeremy