[Python-Dev] Accessing globals without dict lookup (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Sun, 10 Feb 2002 19:10:53 -0500

[Skip] > In the face of exec statements or calls to execfile can't the > compiler just generate the usual LOADNAME fallback instead of the new- > fangled LOADGLOBAL opcode?

[Tim]

Note that exec doesn't have to be passed a string: you can pass it a compiled code object just as well. The compiler can't guess how a code object will be used at the time it's compiled. In theory there would be nothing to stop exec from rewriting the bytecode in a compiled code object passed to it, but I doubt we could get Guido to buy that trick until he first buys rewriting bytecode to set debugger breakpoints .

Arg. So much for that idea. (Although I think the mutable bytecode idea is the right idea for setting breakpoints after all.)

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