[Python-Dev] Re: native code compiler? (or, OCaml vs. Python)

[Dan Sugalski]

At 7:36 PM -0500 1/30/03, Tim Peters wrote:
>[Graham Guttocks]
>>  I see. Again, I didn't realize the enormity of this, because
>>  of how fast Psycho has progressed (from a part-time volunteer).
>
>Not any part-time volunteer.  Armin did Psycho while finishing his doctoral
>dissertation, and applied a brain the size of a planet to the job, with
>passion.  That's the way intriguing compilers for dynamic languages get
>written in the absence of realistic funding (Dan notwithstanding <wink>).

Heh. I still need to finish, and while I'm not sure I have any 
planet-sized brains to bring to bear, I do now have defense of an ego 
the size of a planet, which may suffice. :)

>For a recent idea of what "realistic funding" means, dig thru now-old but
>not-yet-ancient stories about Sun's efforts on Java JIT technology.

Java is something of a special case. The task of optimizing JVM code 
is fairly non-trivial just given how much information is thrown out 
by the compiler. (Stack-based intermediate targets are suboptimal 
when you're looking to then transform to a register based target such 
as hardware unless a lot of notation goes along with it which, alas, 
isn't generally the case with JVM code)
-- 
                                         Dan

--------------------------------------"it's like this"-------------------
Dan Sugalski                          even samurai
dan@sidhe.org                         have teddy bears and even
                                       teddy bears get drunk