Undefined behaviour in C [was Re: The Cost of Dynamism]

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sat, 26 Mar 2016 04:30 pm, Rustom Mody wrote:

> For one thing its good to remember that we wouldn't be here without python
> Python wouldn't be what it is without CPython

There is nothing about Python that relies on the C standard being as it is.
There are Python implementations that are not written in C or C++:

Jython (Java)
IronPython (C# for .Net or Mono)
CLPython (Lisp)
Berp (Haskell)

I haven't included others (such as PyPy), as I'm not sure whether the
language they are implemented in are self-hosting or not.and  But those
four at least (in principle) don't rely on C/C++ in any way, shape or form
(except perhaps inspiration).

It is an accident of history that Python's first and major implementation
happens to be written in C. (Although its use as a glue language, allowing
people to safely use libraries written in C, probably played a role in
ensuring Python's success.)


-- 
Steven