[Python-Dev] Fast access to builtins (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Fri, 28 Mar 2003 07:48:42 -0500

The question is: why make this complicated ?

If the programmer enables fastbuiltins (or similar) in the module scope, she should be aware that tweaking the module globals from the outside won't have the desired effect.

I don't want programmers to have to add all sorts of magical incantations to their top to guide the optimizer. Today it's fast_builtins, tomorrow it's a promise that a class won't be poked.

Poking a module from the outside is frequent enough, but poking names that shadow builtins is extremely rare. So almost all modules would need fast_builtins, because it would almost always help.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)