[Python-Dev] Comparing PEP 576 and PEP 580 (original) (raw)
Jeroen Demeyer J.Demeyer at UGent.be
Tue Jul 3 11:10:37 EDT 2018
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Hello all,
in order to make reviewing PEP 576/580 easier and possibly take some ideas from one PEP to the other, let me state the one fundamental difference between these PEPs. There are many details in both PEPs that can still change, so I'm focusing on what I think is the big structural difference.
To be clear: I'm referring to the PEP 576 version at https://github.com/markshannon/pep-576/blob/master/README.rst (this really should be merged in the main PEP repo).
Both PEPs add a hook for fast calling of C functions. However, they do that on a different level. Let's trace what _PyObject_FastCallKeywords() currently does when acting on an instance of builtin_function_or_method:
A. _PyObject_FastCallKeywords() calls B. _PyCFunction_FastCallKeywords() which calls C. _PyMethodDef_RawFastCallKeywords() which calls D. the actual C function (*ml_meth)()
PEP 576 hooks the call A->B while PEP 580 hooks the call B->D (getting rid of C).
Advantages of the high-level hook (PEP 576):
- Much simpler protocol than PEP 580.
- More general since B can be anything.
- Not being forced to deal with "self".
- Slightly faster when you don't care about B.
Advantages of the low-level hook (PEP 580):
- No need to duplicate the code from B (see the various existing _{FOO}_FastCallKeywords functions).
- Enables certain optimizations because other code can make assumptions about what B does.
In my personal opinion, the last advantage of PEP 580 is really important: some existing optimizations depend on it and it also allows extending the protocol in a "performance-compatible" way: it's easy to extend the protocol in a way that callers can benefit from it.
Anyway, it would be good to have some guidance on how to proceed here. I would really like something like PEP 580 to be accepted and I'm willing to put time and effort into achieving that.
Thanks, Jeroen.
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