Hi,
Last year, I gave a talk at the Language Summit (during Pycon) to explain that CPython should become 2x faster to remain competitive. IMHO all attempts to optimize Python (CPython forks) have failed because they have been blocked by the C API which implies strict constraints.
I started to write a proposal to change the C API to hide implementation details, to prepare CPython for future changes. It allows to experimental optimization ideas without loosing support for C extensions.
C extensions are a large part of the Python success. They are also the reason why PyPy didn't replace CPython yet. PyPy cpyext remains slower than CPython because PyPy has to mimick CPython which adds a significant overhead (even if PyPy developers are working *hard* to optimize it).
I created a new to discuss how to introduce backward incompatible changes in the C API without breaking all C extensions:
http://pythoncapi.readthedocs.io/
The source can be found at:
https://github.com/vstinner/pythoncapi/
I would like to create a team of people who want to work on this project: CPython, PyPy, Cython and anyone who depends on the C API. Contact me in private if you want to be added to the GitHub project.
I propose to discuss on the capi-sig mailing list since I would like to involve people from various projects, and I don't want to bother you with the high traffic of python-dev.
Victor
PS: I added some people as BCC ;-)