Future of Pypy?

[Dave Farrance]

jkn <jkn_gg at nicorp.f9.co.uk> wrote:

> I'm curious what ...behavioural... models you are creating quickly in
> Python that then need rewriting in C for speed. SPICE? some other CAD?
> Might be interesting to learn more about what and how you are actually
> doing.

The convert-to-C cases were complex filtering functions.  I do make good
use of spice-based tools, but I often find it useful to make a more
abstract model, usually before completing the design.  This helps with
component selection, finalizing the design, and making sure that I
understood the what the circuit would do.

I started work 1980ish, had an early 6502-based home computer, and my then
place of work had some 6502-based Pet computers, so I gained the ability
to quickly write BASIC programs as an engineering aid.  Later, when BASIC
dropped into obscurity, I switched to C and C++, although I always found
that cumbersome compared to the old BASIC.  Later still, when I found that
my Google queries for code examples started returning more Python than C,
I tried that -- and discovered that Python was like BASIC, only better.

But that's just me.  Other hardware engineers use a variety of modeling
applications.  Or don't need to because they're just that clever?  Or they
give the modeling work to system engineers who will use whatever apps that
system engineers use, and will return a result a few weeks later.
Personally, I've tended to get used to writing code in just one
general-purpose language, and it seems to me that I get a useful result
relatively quickly.

> How about running your front end (simulation) work in PyPy, and the
> backend display work on CPython, if there are some missing features in
> PyPy that you need. This may be more or less easy depending on your
> requirements and any intermediate format you have.

Maybe I should look at that again.  In the case of the filter models,
their usefulness had grown to the point that requiring support by other
people was a possibility, so converting them to C seemed better than
writing something that bridged between two language implementations.

> Or you could offer to assist in the PyPy porting? Or express an interest
> in specific libraries being ported?

I'm a hardware engineer not a software engineer, so I have to plead lack
of ability there.  I do appreciate the work that's done on Python, and
have to be grateful for what is available, since I'm not paying for it.