"CPython"

[Chris Angelico]

On Tue, 21 Jun 2022 at 11:13, Paulo da Silva
<p_d_a_s_i_l_v_a_ns at nonetnoaddress.pt> wrote:
>
> Às 20:01 de 20/06/22, Paulo da Silva escreveu:
> > Às 18:19 de 20/06/22, Stefan Ram escreveu:
> >>    The same personality traits that make people react
> >>    to troll postings might make them spread unconfirmed
> >>    ideas about the meaning of "C" in "CPython".
> >>
> >>    The /core/ of CPython is written in C.
> >>
> >>    CPython is the /canonical/ implementation of Python.
> >>
> >>    The "C" in "CPython" stands for C.
> >>
> >>
> >
> > Not so "unconfirmed"!
> > Look at this article, I recently read:
> > https://www.analyticsinsight.net/cpython-to-step-over-javascript-in-developing-web-applications/
> >
> >
> > There is a sentence in ther that begins with "CPython, short for Core
> > Python, a reference implementation that other Python distributions are
> > derived from, ...".
> >
> > Anyway, I wrote "IMHO".
> >
> > Do you have any credible reference to your assertion "The "C" in
> > "CPython" stands for C."?
> >
> > Thank you.
>
> Well ... I read the responses and they are not touching the point!
> I just answered, with my opinion based on articles I have read in the
> past. Certainly I could not be sure. That's why I responded as an
> opinion (IMHO) and not as an assertion.
> Stefan Ram responded with a, at least, not very polite post.
> That's why I needed to somehow "defend" why I posted that response, and,
> BTW, trying to learn why he said that the C in CPython means "written in C".
>
> I still find very strange, to not say weird, that a compiler or
> interpreter has a name based in the language it was written. But, again,
> is just my opinion and nothing more.
>

Not sure why it's strange. The point is to distinguish "CPython" from
"Jython" or "Brython" or "PyPy" or any of the other implementations.
Yes, CPython has a special place because it's the reference
implementation and the most popular, but the one thing that makes it
distinct from all the others is that it's implemented in C.

I could, perhaps, create my own interpreter and name it "RosuavPython"
after myself, but when something's made by a team, it's usually more
useful to pick something that is fundamental to it (Brython is
designed to be run in a browser, Jython is written in Python to make
it easy to call on Java classes, etc).

ChrisA