[Python-Dev] Using Cython for standard library? (original) (raw)

Gerhard Häring gh at ghaering.de
Mon Nov 3 15:15:32 CET 2008

Calvin Spealman wrote:

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 6:29 AM, Gerhard Häring <gh at ghaering.de> wrote:

Stefan Behnel wrote:

Michael Foord wrote:

Moving more C extensions to an implementation based on ctypes would be enormously useful for PyPy, IronPython and Jython, but ctypes is not yet as portable as Python itself which could be an issue (although one worth resolving). In the same line, moving more extensions to a high-level language like Cython, instead of writing them in straight C, would make a later switch to a different environment a lot easier, as the extensions could be regenerated with a modified Cython compiler (obviously minus some fixing of premature optimisations and the like). Is using Cython for anything in Modules/ really an option? In my limited experiments with it, I did like it. But using it for Python standard library stuff doesn't look quite right to me: - Option 1: distribute Cython with Python and integrate into build process -- Ouch! Can you be a bit more descriptive?

Cython is still being worked on (intensively, it seems). Bundling it with Python means deciding on a particular version probably for an entire major release lifecycle (use Cython x.y.{newest} for Python 2.7, for example).

- Option 2: only distribute generated source files -- developers still need to have Cython installed -- you have to trust Cython; who will really review the generated code? Who reviews the machine code from gcc?

That's comparing apples and eggs :-P But it may be that I'm a little paranoid here.

I would love to see the option to write the lower levels in something other than C,

Absolutely. That's why I tried to reimplement pysqlite in something easier to maintain than handwritten Python C API. There's a ctypes-based version in its Mercurial repository that's good enough to be used from PyPy now. And a started Cython-based one.

but obviously any choice would have to be a good one. [...] So, the question I see isn't if Cython should be allowed for standard library modules, but if the landscape of such solutions is at a point that any of them is ready to be committed to.

ACK.

-- Gerhard

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