[Python-Dev] Optimization of Python ASTs: How should we deal with constant values? (original) (raw)

"Martin v. Löwis" martin at v.loewis.de
Fri May 2 19:38:48 CEST 2008

Thomas Lee wrote:

Martin v. Löwis wrote:

This leaves us with a few options:

5. Reuse/Abuse Num(object) for arbitrary constants. AFAICT, this should work out of the box. Eek. It does seem like Num would work out of the box, but would this be a good idea?

No. I suggested it just for completeness.

What about replacing Num with Const? Might make optimizations specifically for numeric values slightly hairier, and semantically I think they might be different enough to warrant separate AST nodes despite the similarity in implementation at the compiler level.

I think they should be separate. Const would be a mere addition; for compatibility with other uses of the AST, that's actually better than simultaneous removal of Num.

Regards, Martin

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