Implementing my own Python interpreter

[Matt Nordhoff]

Ognjen Bezanov wrote:
> Hello All,
> 
> I am a third year computer science student and I'm the process of
> selection for my final year project.
> 
> One option that was thought up was the idea of implement my own version
> of the python interpreter (I'm referring to CPython here). Either as a
> process running on another OS or as a process running directly on the CPU.
> 
> Now, I can't seem to find a decent source of information on the python
> interpreter. I have made the assumption that Python works very much like
> Java, you have code that is compiled into bytecode, which is then
> executed in a virtual machine. IS this correct? Is there a good source
> to give me an overview of Python internals? (I can look at the code, but
> I would find it easier to understand if I can see the "big picture" as
> well)
> 
> Also, any pro's out there willing to chime on the feasibility of
> implementing python to run directly on the hardware (without an
> underlying OS)? I don't expect 100% compatibility, but would the basics
> (branching, looping, arithmatic) be feasible?
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> 
> Ognjen

FWIW... There are several other implementations of Python:

IronPython (.Net)
Jython (Java)
PyPy (Python) <http://codespeak.net/pypy/dist/pypy/doc/home.html>

You might find working on one of them interesting, or maybe even CPython
itself.
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