[Chicago] Question about Machine Language.

[kirby urner]

Hey Douglas, keep in mind that Machine Language, if not a textbook
invention, is written "to a specific chip" i.e. made by Intel or Motorola
or...  A "universal machine language" would be music to the ears of a big
chip manufacturer (means one design won) but much of software engineering
is about inserting a layer of abstraction between each chip's proprietary
machine language and something more universal, and that would be C. :-D

Seriously, C aimed at portability as a number one goal, with the parts
specific to a computer hidden away in libraries.  Python aims to solve the
same problem with a Virtual Machine architecture i.e. a layer that faces
"downward" towards the bare metal, and another face that points upward,
that runs bytecode generated from any .py file.  My .py file written on a
Motorola chip runs fine on your Intel chip, but then I'm purposely
forgetting the other VM the Python VM is already on top of:  the OS (e.g.
Linux) which is just another way of saying C.  :-D

Kirby
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/chicago/attachments/20151207/316bd9e8/attachment.html>