First release of Shed Skin, a Python-to-C++ compiler.

[Carl Friedrich Bolz]

Hi!

adDoc's networker Phil wrote:
>> 
>>     experimental Python-to-C++ compiler.
>> 
>>     why that instead of Pypy?
>> 
> 
> . pypy compiles to llvm (low-level virtual machine) bytecode
> which is obviously not as fast as the native code coming from c++ compilers;

PyPy can currently compile Python code to C code and to LLVM bytecode. 
Note that even for LLVM bytecode the argument is void since LLVM 
(despite its name, which might lead one to think that it is Java-like) 
compiles its bytecode to native assembler.

>  but the primary mission of pypy
> is just having a python system that is
> written in something like python rather than c or c++

it's really just plain python (it completely runs on top of CPython 
after all) together with some restrictions -- which seem similar to the 
restictions that shedskin imposes btw.

> . there is no reason why the pypy project can't have a .NET architecture
> instead of the java-like arrangement I assume it has now

Sorry, I can't really follow you here. In what way does PyPy have a 
Java-like arrangement?

> . without such a pypy.NET system,
>  shedskin is offering a service that pypy can't yet provide:
> a ( python -> c++ )-conversion allows me to
> smoothly integrate python contributions
> with my already-staggering c++ library
> . I'm not suggesting that pypy should be another
> Mono rewritten in python,
> because the essential mission of the .NET architecture
> is being able to compile
> any language of the user`s choice,
> to some intermediate language designed to be
> far more efficiently compiled to
> any machine language of the user`s choice
> than any human-readable language such as c++
> . perhaps llvm bytecode can serve as such an intermediate language?
> then llvm could be the new c++ (our defacto IL (intermediate language))
> and shedskin (python -> IL=c++) could then be replaced by
> the combination of pypy (python -> IL=llvm)
> and some incentive for all target platforms
> to develope a highly optimized
> ( llvm -> native code)-compiler
> -- assuming also, that there is available
> a highly optimized ( c++ -> llvm bytecode )-compiler .

there is. look at the LLVM page for details: www.llvm.org


Cheers,

Carl Friedrich Bolz