[Python-Dev] Two laments about CPython's AST Nodes (original) (raw)

"Martin v. Löwis" martin at v.loewis.de
Fri Aug 21 00:11:03 CEST 2009

x = compile("def foo():pass", "foo", "exec", ast.PyCFONLYAST)

Does x contain real AST nodes or does it contain mirror structures (feel free to just tell me: don't be lazy, go read the code).

It only contains a mirror structure. See pythonrun.c:Py_CompileStringFlags, and the (generated) PyAST_mod2obj function. There is no way for a Python script to get hold of the real AST.

I do use the ASDL to generate this stuff, but again, the real and the mirror nodes are not separated ATM, and that is what makes it difficult.

Couldn't you just generate a check function for your tree that would be invoked before you try to process a tree that a script got access to?

That is quite reasonable, I'll withdraw gripe #1 -- in fact the reason I have already implemented this in Jython is that there is already real world use out there. I still need to understand gripe #2 a little better before I back down on that one.

If you are asking that a type check is made on assigning a value to these fields - I'm not quite sure whether you could implement that check reliably. Wouldn't it be possible to bypass it by filling a value directly into dict?

If you can come up with a patch that checks in a reliable manner, I would be in favor of adding that (in 2.7 and 3.2), taking out the corresponding checks when converting to the internal AST.

Regards, Martin

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