The future of "frozen" types as the number of CPU cores increases

[John Nagle]

John Nagle wrote:

>    I look at this as Python's answer to multicore CPUs and "Go".

    On that note, I went to a talk at Stanford yesterday by one of the
designers of Intel's Nelahem core.  The four-core, eight thread
version is out now.  The six-core, twelve thread version is working;
the speaker has one in his lab.  The eight-core, sixteen thread version
is some months away.  This isn't an expensive CPU; this is Intel's
"converged" mainstream product.  (Although there will be a whole range
of "economy" and "performance" versions, all with the same core but
with some stuff turned off.)

    Python isn't ready for this.  Not with the GIL.

    Multiple processes are not the answer.  That means loading multiple
copies of the same code into different areas of memory.  The cache
miss rate goes up accordingly.

					John Nagle