"M.-A. Lemburg" wrote:
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Having Python itself written in C++ we could do *much* better.
Agree.
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The slot design has serious drawbacks and should be replaced by something more reliable, preferably C++ methods. That way, we'll get some more "type" safety into Python and its extensions.
I agree that the slot stuff is broken but my solution would be to junk it and use the same mechanism for looking up "type methods" and "instance methods". I can think of two ways to make that perform reasonably: one is method caching and the other is by building interface objects where methods are invoked by index -- basically vtables. But if the same mechanism is going to accelerate Python and C types alike then it can't really use C++ vtables because how do you generate a vtable at runtime for a new Python class? (you could also think of it as a COM interface object)
So I guess it's time for some PEPs now... the upgrade path PEP and the fluffy clouds PEP.
Good timing. I just finished the first draft of the upgrade path PEP. -- Paul Prescod - Not encumbered by corporate consensus Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it. - http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html