"CPython"

[Paulo da Silva]

Às 03:20 de 21/06/22, MRAB escreveu:
> On 2022-06-21 02:33, Chris Angelico wrote:
>> 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.
>>
> And just to make it clear, the interpreter/compiler _itself_ is still 
> called "python". "CPython" is a name/term that was applied retroactively 
> to that particular implementation when another implementation appeared.
Yes, but that does not necessarily means that the C has to refer to the 
language of implementation. It may well be a "core" reference to 
distinguish that implementation from others with different behaviors.

Let's say they reimplement "reference python" CPython in Rust. What is 
better? Change the "reference python" CPython name to RPython, for 
example, or let it as CPython?
It's my opinion that it should stay as CPython.
After all who cares in which language it is implemented?

Regards.
Paulo