[pypy-dev] (no subject)

[Armin Rigo]

Hello Logistix,

On Tue, Jan 21, 2003 at 05:38:58PM -0500, logistix wrote:
> I would want some way to load code directly into memory (and preferably
> with minimal File I/O).  Hence a few low level memory functions (coded
> in C or assembly) that are callable from the Python framework. 

Now I think I see what you meant.  But there are two different C-emission 
processes that we are talking about:

1) given the Python interpreter written in Python, we want to statically
translate it into some CPython-like C code, experimenting variants etc. but
always having a "classical" (non-Psyco) interpreter.  This should be regarded
as the goal of the project right now, focusing on nice Python code, not
specifically optimized.  Most of the C code making this new interpreter should
come from 100% automatic translation of the Python-in-Python; it could be
completed with a few C modules that handle all issues specific to C (e.g.
dynamic loading libraries or signal polling).

2) later, we can add a Psyco layer made of some (hopefully small) parts of the
current Psyco, and some specific back-end code (which may or may not be
written directly in C).  As above the most important part of this project must 
be 100% automatically translated from the Python-in-Python.

I think the issues you mention arise if we want to write absolutely everything
in Python, which I think we don't: issues specific to the final
C/ObjC/OCaml/wantever translation may be coded in C/ObjC/OCaml/whatever, as
far as I'm concerned, and the same with Psyco.


A bientôt,

Armin.