Reimplenting Linux Kernel in Python

[Phil Frost]

On Wed, Oct 13, 2004 at 08:24:48PM -0300, Carlos Ribeiro wrote:
> ...
> 
> Now, let me re-state your question in a broader sense. Is it possible
> to write an OS using a language such as Python? Yes. But the resulting
> OS will surely be different from Linux -- by design it would be a
> completely different beast. Some parts would still be written in C and
> assembler, because it needs to access the hardware, and also for
> performance reasons. But an API could be devised to allow higher-level
> functions to be written in Python, while calling the low-level
> C+assembler stuff. But as I said, it's _so_ completely different from
> anything else in use today as to make it pretty much a theorethical or
> academic exercise with little practical use. I can't see a project
> like that taking off, even if I would love to see it working.

I can state from first-hand experience that this idea is not too
far-fetched. It is possible to enable Python to express device drivers
and low level OS functions like multitasking with an amazingly small
amount of C+asm; I'd say around 2000 lines, excluding the Python
runtime. If Pyrex counts as not-C, then I bet it could be done in 500.

The performance problems are a bit harder, but with a good JIT compiling
VM the runtime performance of Python could theoretically come very close
to C.

I do agree though that there is little point in rewriting Linux in
Python. The advantage in Python is its expressiveness, but by rewriting
an existing system you gain nothing.