[Python-Dev] API bloat

[Nick Coghlan]

On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 11:03 PM,  <exarkun at twistedmatrix.com> wrote:
> On 12:43 pm, ncoghlan at gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 10:11 PM, Mark Shannon <marks at dcs.gla.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>> OK, so UnicodeError_xxx is important for codecs, but surely this sort of
>>> argument could be made for lots of things.
>>> Don't forget that for each function added to the API,
>>> all other implementations have to support it forever.
>>
>> Other implementations that want to support CPython extensions should
>> focus their efforts on the limited API defined in PEP 384. That will
>> not only be a lot easier, it will also be less of a moving target.
>
> And will produce what kind of results?  How many extension libraries work
> with this subset?

Right now? Very few, given the changes to the way types need to be
created. But prioritising it will speed convergence over time as more
extension modules cut over to it for the stable ABI benefits.

And, since the C API has never been anywhere near as tightly
controlled as the language definition, alternative implementations are
going to garner more sympathy if they restrict their concerns to the
growth of the stable ABI rather than worrying about an implementation
detail of CPython.

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia