Python processors? : WAS Re: Does python have the capability for driver development ?

[greg]

Francesco Bochicchio wrote:

> I wonder: has anybody thought of making a python-machine, or at least
> a processor able to directly execute high-level bytecode (LLVM-like?).

In some of my idle moments I've speculated on what such
a machine might be like. One of my ideas for potential
future projects is to flesh out the design and maybe even
build an FPGA prototype.

It would purely be for fun, though. It's unlikely that
such a processor would be able to compete speed-wise
with a general-purpose CPU running a Python interpreter
with critical libraries written in C.

That's what killed things like the Lisp machine. Their
developers couldn't keep up with the huge resources that
people like Intel and Motorola had to throw at CPU
development, so eventually a general-purpose CPU could
run Lisp faster than a Lisp machine.

-- 
Greg