[pypy-svn] rev 1715 - pypy/trunk/doc/funding

lac at codespeak.net lac at codespeak.net
Sat Oct 11 15:37:38 CEST 2003


Author: lac
Date: Sat Oct 11 15:37:37 2003
New Revision: 1715

Modified:
   pypy/trunk/doc/funding/B3.allmerged.txt
Log:
This is much better now.  But I still need Bea's changes.


Modified: pypy/trunk/doc/funding/B3.allmerged.txt
==============================================================================
--- pypy/trunk/doc/funding/B3.allmerged.txt	(original)
+++ pypy/trunk/doc/funding/B3.allmerged.txt	Sat Oct 11 15:37:37 2003
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 FIXME_LAURA: currently writing this
 FIXME_NICO FIXME_ALASTAIR : proof-read it
-FIXME think about including Logilab and DFKI references
+FIXME think about where to include Logilab and DFKI references
 
 Potential impact
 ===================
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@
 to the abstraction level they are formulated. This will greatly
 improve the productivity of the individual programmer.
 
+The most obvious way in which we will have an impact is that we will
+produce a version of the language which, being superior to anything which
+has gone before, will be extremely well used.  To that end, our first
+target group is the existing community of Python/Jython programmers.
+
 It is always difficult to measure how many people are using a
 programming language, but of course, we try.  Python is generally
 ranked the sixth most popular computer language in the world.  Only
@@ -70,11 +75,12 @@
 available as a Red Hat, or Debian package, or simply use the version
 of Python that came installed with their machine when they bought it.
 
-FWIW, there are about 600,000 http visitors a month to python.org.
-About one third of them are using the documentation, which is a
-fairly good indicator that they are trying to use the language.
-Number of unique IP addresses per month is about 350,000 at this point,
-and has been rising steadily from about 250,000 this time last year.
+For what its worth, there are about 600,000 http visitors a month to
+python.org.  About one third of them are using the documentation,
+which is a fairly good indicator that they are trying to use the
+language.  Number of unique IP addresses per month is about 350,000 at
+this point, and has been rising steadily from about 250,000 this time
+last year.
 
 Converting this into an actual estimate of number of users is a bit
 hard, since:
@@ -100,81 +106,11 @@
 International Data Corp).  In March 2002, Borland said Java had about
 1.5 million developers.
 
-We intend to make a new reference version of the Python Programming
-Language, which is faster, more flexible, more extensible, and which
-gives more control to the individual programmer as to how it is
-deployed.  For instance, you will be able to build a Python
-interpreter customised for a very small amount of available memory.
-Or one with speed enhancements only possible because there is a huge
-amount of memory available.  Or a PyPy interpreter which will be
-executed on several machines but offer a single distributed computation
-space and balances the load by moving execution threads around. We can
-produce Object Spaces which implement Logic Programming, Aspect Oriented
-Programming and Design By Contract, hot new topics in computer science
-research, but which are rarely seen in industry because existing popular
-languages do not support them.  
-
-An implementation of the language with substantial improvements will
-have an immediate direct effect on Eropean competitiveness.  Moreover,
-the planned improvements directly target the handheld, mobile, and
-embedded device sectors, where Europe is the acknowledged world
-leader.  People working in such industries have long desired a high
-level language with a very small footprint.  The new innovative
-concept of Object Spaces, pioneered by PyPy makes the construction of
-tiny Object Spaces, suitable for running on the smallest devices
-straight-forward.  Indeed, it will be possible for application
-programmers to configure Python runtime environments to suit their
-particular hardware characteristics -- for instance, a version that
-runs in a minimal amount of memory, or a version that can exploit a
-huge amount of memory to achieve the highest performance speed.
-
-Python with greater speed will seamlessly improve the offerings of
-those European Companies who develop using Python.  Moreover, some
-companies resist using Python because of its speed.  If execution
-speed, rather than development speed is of paramont importance to
-you, then Python is currently not a very good language choice.  A
-faster Python would have more appeal.
-
-Furthermore, one of the greatest threats to European competitiveness
-is its dependence upon proprietary closed source software, mostly made
-in the United States.  This is not only the matter of money being
-spent in the United States is money that is not being spent here,
-although that affects matters as well.  There are two more serious
-risks.  The first is a threat in the present.
-
-Any company which writes its software in a proprietary, closed source
-language is dependent upon its software provider.  If you have a bug,
-you must wait for them to fix it.  If this bug is not a high priority
-for them, you can wait a long time.  If you have access to the source
-you always have the option of fixing it yourself, or hiring somebody
-else to do that.  But this is not the greatest of your worries.  You
-are at constant risk of having your software provider discontinue
-support for your language.  This is a real threat, not a theoretical
-one.  In 2002, Microsoft announced that it would no longer be
-supporting Visual Basic 6.0 after the year 2005.  All Visual Basic
-Developers have been told to convert their code to run under
-Microsoft's new .NET framework.  Before that, in 2001 Microsoft
-immediately stopped supporting its Visual J++ language, meant to be a
-direct competitor with Java, after settling a lawsuit with Sun
-Microsystems.  No migration path was specified.  Microsoft is making
-these decisions because they make business sense for Microsoft,
-regardless of the effects on European software developers.
-
-FIXME_LAURA: shrink it
-
-:DELETE:BEGIN
-
-3.1   Contributions to Standards
-
-Describe contributions to national or international standards which
-may be made by the project, if any.
-
-(Recommended length ­ one page)
-
-:DELETE:END
+That's a lot of users.  Writing the language which they all use will
+have an enormous impact.
 
 Contributions to Standards
-==============================
+==========================
 
 There are currently two implementations of Python in common use.  The
 first one, which we will call CPython, but which is what the world
@@ -205,7 +141,8 @@
 in distinguishing "accidental" from "designed-in" characteristics.
 
 (FIXME: I sent Guido mail asking for something quotable.  We will see
-if he replies.)
+if he replies. -- He did.  He will say whatever we like.  What should
+we say?)
 
 In order to do this we will have to do something which is called
 'Submitting a PEP'.  A PEP - Python Enhancement Proposal - is a design
@@ -218,66 +155,31 @@
 standard of the Python language, we would, obviously, have to submit a
 Standards Track PEP.
 
-PEP authors are responsible for collecting community feedback on a PEP
-before submitting it for review. A PEP that has not been discussed on
-python-list at python.org and/or python-dev at python.org will not be
-accepted.  After the authors believe that the PEP is ready, they must
-inform the PEP editors (currently Barry Warsaw and David Goodger) that
-it is ready for review.
- 
-PEPs are reviewed by Guido van Rossum, the language author, and his
-chosen consultants, who may accept or reject a PEP or send it back to
-the author(s) for revision.
-
-If Guido van Rossum accepts the PEP, then its status is changed to
-'Accepted'.  If the reference implementation is not already complete,
-it must then be completed. When the reference implementation is
-complete and accepted (again by Guido van Rossum), the status will be
-changed to 'Final'.  In our case, we wouldn't even write the PEP
-without having a complete reference implementation, since what we
-would be proposing is to make PyPy and not CPython the complete
-reference implementation of the language.  Thus the expression of
-interest from Guido van Rossum is of extreme significance.  It is
-likely, though not certain, that PyPy will become the standard
-reference implementation of the Python language.
-
-::
-
-  <arigo> FIXME
-  <arigo> either say 'very likely if all the goals described in the project
-  <arigo> are met' or give some more precise conditions, e.g. existence of a
-  <arigo> PyPy version largely compatible with existing C extension modules
-
 The complete details of how to write a PEP are themselves an
-Informational PEP -- PEP #1 in fact.  Complete details are to be found
-in this appendix:
+Informational PEP -- PEP #1 in fact.  A copy of PEP #1 is provided
+for convenience  in this appendix:
 
 FIXME include http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0001.html
-FIXME_LAURA : finish writing
-
-FIXME_NICO FIXME_ALASTAIR proof-read
-
-:DELETE:BEGIN
-
-B.3  Potential impact
-       
-Describe the strategic impact of the proposed project, for example in
-reinforcing competitiveness or on solving societal problems. Describe
-the innovation-related activities. Describe the exploitation and/or
-dissemination plans which are foreseen to ensure use of the project
-results. Describe the added-value in carrying out the work at a
-European level. Indicate what account is taken of other national or
-international research activities.
 
-(Recommended length ­ three pages)
-
-B.3.2 Strategic impact
-======================
+PEPs are reviewed by Guido van Rossum, the language author, and his
+chosen consultants, who may accept or reject a PEP or send it back to
+the author(s) for revision.
 
-:DELETE:END
+If Guido van Rossum accepts the PEP, then once the reference
+implementation is complete and accepted (again by Guido van Rossum),
+the status will be changed to 'Accepted and Final' In our case, we
+wouldn't even write the PEP without having a complete reference
+implementation, since what we would be proposing is to make PyPy and
+not CPython the complete reference implementation of the language.
+Thus the expression of interest from Guido van Rossum is of extreme
+significance.  It is very likely, if all the goals described in the
+project PyPy will become the standard reference implementation of the
+Python language.  In other words, our problems are technical, and not
+political.  The political will is already there to make PyPy the
+reference langauge.  We merely need to create it.
 
 Strategic impact
-======================
+================
 
 PyPy will have a significant strategic impact throughout the IT
 sector.  It produces immensely useful, practical results which shall
@@ -286,73 +188,6 @@
 province of academia, and significantly enhances the State-of-the-Art,
 it is not a project that will only satisfy intellectual curiosity.
 
-Python and extremely popular Very-High-Level, Object-Oriented,
-programming language.  It is always difficult to measure how many
-people are using a programming language, but of course, we try.
-Python is generally ranked the sixth most popular computer language in
-the world.  Only Java, Visual Basic, C, C++, and Perl are believed to
-have more users.  
-
-The Python FAQ, available at the python language home site of
-python.org says::
-
-  2.1. How many people are using Python?
-
-  Certainly thousands, and quite probably tens of thousands of users.
-  More are seeing the light each day. The comp.lang.python newsgroup is
-  very active, but overall there is no accurate estimate of the number
-  of subscribers or Python users.  Jacek Artymiak has created a Python
-  Users Counter; you can see the current count by visiting
-  http://www.wszechnica.safenet.pl/cgi-bin/checkpythonuserscounter.py
-
-  Jacek's counter has more than 43 000 registered users.
-
-Googling for 'python programming' gives 1,540,000 hits. 
-('Python' gives ten million, but many of those Pythons are the actual reptiles.)
-
-Compared to the most common languages these days, C, C++, Java and
-Visual Basic, there is certainly much less 'market penetration',
-and in some niches, languages such as PHP, Perl and SQL are popular,
-but Python is vastly bigger than the more obscure languages such
-as Haskell, OCaml, Smalltalk, ADA, Ruby etc.
-
-Some statistics from python.org may be relevant.  There were 47,751
-Python 2.3 downloads in the first 10 days of September.  These are
-the 'bleeding edge' developers, who were interested in the new
-release of Python first made available at the end of August.  There
-are, of course, many more who simply wait for Python to become
-available as a Red Hat, or Debian package, or simply use the version 
-of Python that came installed with their machine when they bought it.
-
-FWIW, there are about 600,000 http visitors a month to python.org.
-About one third of them are using the documentation, which is a
-fairly good indicator that they are trying to use the language.
-Number of unique IP addresses per month is about 350,000 at this point,
-and has been rising steadily from about 250,000 this time last year.
-
-Converting this into an actual estimate of number of users is a bit
-hard, since:
-
-- One user may use multiple machines (e.g. home & work & cafe)
-- Many sites use a firewall that hides the actual IP (and thus combines
-  multiple users into one)
-- Not all Python users go to python.org every month (or at least not
-  the Documentation page), because they have already dowloaded the
-  documentation for local browsing.
-
-It's probably reasonably safe to say there are at least 175,000 active
-Python users in the world.  At least half of them are in Europe, if
-O'Reilly's sales statistics for their popular books *Learning Python*,
-*Python in a Nutshell* and *The Python Cookbook* are any indication.
-Speaking of books, sales statistics of *The Essential Jython*,
-targetted at users of the Python version that compiles to the Java
-Virtual Machine indicate that there are at least 10 thousand Jython
-users worldwide.
-
-For comparison, there are something like 12 million programmers world-wide
-and roughly 50% of those use Visual Basic (according to International Data
-Corp).  In March 2002, Borland said Java had about 1.5 million developers.
-
 We intend to make a new reference version of the Python Programming
 Language, which is faster, more flexible, more extensible, and which
 gives more control to the individual programmer as to how it is
@@ -367,43 +202,9 @@
 research, but which are rarely seen in industry because existing popular
 languages do not support them.  
 
-When we are successful, we will have an immediate, large impact as
-those 175,000 Python users will all get an improved language.FIXME_LAURA: finish writing
-FIXME_NICO FIXME_ALASTAIR: proof-read
-
-:DELETE:BEGIN
-
-B.3  Potential impact
-       
-Describe the strategic impact of the proposed project, for example in
-reinforcing competitiveness or on solving societal problems. Describe
-the innovation-related activities. Describe the exploitation and/or
-dissemination plans which are foreseen to ensure use of the project
-results. Describe the added-value in carrying out the work at a
-European level. Indicate what account is taken of other national or
-international research activities.
-
-(Recommended length ­ three pages)
-
-:DELETE:END
-
-Potential Impact on the Research and Industrial Sectors
-=======================================================
-
-FIXME_ARMIN FIXME_SAMUELE give me 2 sentences or so about why this is
-significant research, the sort that is real csc, and will make
-a research impact.  Add a bit about and we can teach it to
-students because its Python, and easy to read, but not more than
-2 sentences because I will blather about that in the edu section.
-
-The 'impact on the industrial sector' was given in more detail
-in section B2.  This is a summary, indicating precise goals targetted
-in our workpackages.  For the overview of the European markets, refer
-to section B2.
-
-The particular improvements we intend to make to Python will have an
-immediate direct effect on European competitiveness.  What is more, the
-planned improvements directly target the handheld, mobile, and
+An implementation of the language with substantial improvements will
+have an immediate direct effect on Eropean competitiveness.  Moreover,
+the planned improvements directly target the handheld, mobile, and
 embedded device sectors, where Europe is the acknowledged world
 leader.  People working in such industries have long desired a high
 level language with a very small footprint.  The new innovative
@@ -415,352 +216,17 @@
 runs in a minimal amount of memory, or a version that can exploit a
 huge amount of memory to achieve the highest performance speed.
 
-The makers of mobile and networked devices, as well as computer game
-designers in the Massively-Multi-Player games industry have long
-desired a language that could automatically balance loads, or that
-allowed massive parallelism through microthreads.  They too will get
-what they desire.
-
-Moreover, a great many companies, in deciding what language to develop
-in, reject Very High Level Languages, despite their known advantages
-for programmer productivity, code-reuse and maintainability because
-the code produced simply does not run fast enough.  If we give them a
-*fast* VHLL, they will switch.
-
-Furthermore, one of the greatest threats to European competitiveness
-is its dependence upon proprietary closed source software, mostly made
-in the United States.  This is not only the matter of money being
-spent in the United States is money that is not being spent here,
-although that affects matters as well.  There are two more serious
-risks.  The first is a threat in the present.
-
-Any company which writes its software in a proprietary, closed source
-language is dependent upon its software provider.  If you have a bug,
-you must wait for them to fix it.  If this bug is not a high priority
-for them, you can wait a long time.  
-
-If you have access to the source
-you always have the option of fixing it yourself, or hiring somebody
-else to do that.  
-
-But this is not the greatest of your worries.  You
-are at constant risk of having your software provider discontinue
-support for your language.  This is a real threat, not a theoretical
-one.  In 2002, Microsoft announced that it would no longer be
-supporting Visual Basic 6.0 after the year 2005.  All Visual Basic
-Developers have been told to convert their code to run under
-Microsoft's new .NET framework.  Before that, in 2001 Microsoft
-immediately stopped supporting its Visual J++ language, meant to be a
-direct competitor with Java, after settling a lawsuit with Sun
-Microsystems.  No migration path was specified.  Microsoft is making
-these decisions because they make business sense for Microsoft,
-regardless of the effects on European software developers.
-
-For this reason, European companies and governments are moving to
-Open Source software, whenever possible.  
-If you ... insert here ...
-
-The second threat closed source makes to European competitiveness is
-more insidious, and more long term.  A good workman knows his tools.
-This is much more than the theoretical knowledge of how his tools
-ought to work, according to principles learned in school.  The way car
-mechanics know how cars work is distinctly different from what you
-would know if you had attended classes on 'the principles of the
-internal combustion engine', let alone what you need to know to just
-drive the thing.
-
-Right now, in Europe, we don't have enough of the software equivalents
-of car-mechanics.  And most of them live in academia, where they know
-the intimate details of languages that never get used in industrial
-applications.  The world needs Formula-One race car mechanics, indeed,
-but it has a much greater need for people who know how to repair the
-family car.
-
-This is particularily frustrating, because Europe is the acknowledged
-world leader in language design.  CWI, the home of Python, is also the
-home of Algol.  As the SWOT analysis of FIXME what is it called --
-makes clear, something terribly wrong happens in the process of
-European language deployment.  First some European academic institute
-invents a really terrific language.  And then it stops there.  Out in
-industry, we are still using Visual Basic, or Java, or C++.  The SWOT
-analysis indicates that the Americans are successful where we are not
-because they develop commercial languages, for sale.  They may not be
-as well-designed or as well-written as European academic languages,
-but they are extremely well-funded.  Successful paths for language
-adoption apparantly take big bucks.
-
-Python is an academic computer language which has refuted this claim.
-In the 14 years since it was first announced, it has grown to be
-the sixth most popular programming language, with (probably) between
-one and two hundred thousand users world-wide.  This has happened
-gradually, spreading
-through word-of-mouth, as an Open Source project, with a website,
-mailing lists, but no big budget or deep pockets.  This makes it
-a candidate for the largest European Software project with the
-largest distribution and user base.  If we produce the new reference
-language over the next two years, then PyPy will _be_ Python.  Their
-user base will be our user base.  And then we can specifically target
-Java, C++ and Visual Basic users, and get them to switch as well.
-
-It seems melodramatic to speak of 'World Dominance', but in our
-meetings and discussions it keeps coming up again, and again.  Why
-not?  We will 'push the envelope' and produce a language which will be
-the next standard by which all other languages are compared in
-academia, and make sure that it is syntactically 100% compatible with
-CPython, which will ensure for easy adoption.  If PyPy can deliver a
-language which is better suited for networked, embedded, and mobile
-devices, why wouldn't we capture market share from Java, C++, and
-Visual Basic?
-
-
-FIXME_LAURA: finish writing
-
-FIXME_NICO FIXME_ALASTAIR : proof-read  
-
-:DELETE:BEGIN
-
-B.3  Potential impact
-       
-Describe the strategic impact of the proposed project, for example in
-reinforcing competitiveness or on solving societal problems. Describe
-the innovation-related activities. Describe the exploitation and/or
-dissemination plans which are foreseen to ensure use of the project
-results. Describe the added-value in carrying out the work at a
-European level. Indicate what account is taken of other national or
-international research activities.
-
-(Recommended length ­ three pages)
+Python with greater speed will seamlessly improve the offerings of
+those European Companies who develop using Python.  Moreover, some
+companies resist using Python because of its speed.  If execution
+speed, rather than development speed is of paramont importance to
+you, then Python is currently not a very good language choice.  A
+faster Python would have more appeal.
 
-:DELETE:END
 
 Potential Impact on the Balance of Trade
 ======================================== 
-
-Right now Python is the sixth most popular programming language in the
-world.  Java and Visual Basic, ranked 1 and 2, are closed source
-proprietary American products.  The number one reason that is cited by
-Java users as to 'why they don't use Python' is that it is too slow.
-PyPy will fix this.  Right now the Visual Basic users have a terrible
-dilemma.  Microsoft, in its wisdom, has decided end support of their
-current platform, Visual Basic 6.0.  After the year 2005, they will
-have to move to Microsoft's .NET.  This is a tremendous opportunity
-for us.  They're angry as anything now, and tempted to move, not to
-.NET, but to an Open Source language, just so that they can have
-control over their own destiny and indicate their displeasure with
-Microsoft at the same time.
-
-Every Java and VB user that switches to Python does not pay license
-fees to Sun or Microsoft and helps the European balance of Trade.  
-
-Of course, all the PBF members are predicting that an improved
-Python will improve their sales, both domestic and foreign.
-
-<<<<<<< .mine
-Furthermore, one of the greatest threats to European competitiveness
-is its dependence upon proprietary closed source software, mostly made
-in the United States.  This is not only the matter of money being
-spent in the United States is money that is not being spent here,
-although that affects matters as well.  There are two more serious
-risks.  The first is a threat in the present.
-
-Any company which writes its software in a proprietary, closed source
-language is dependent upon its software provider.  If you have a bug,
-you must wait for them to fix it.  If this bug is not a high priority
-for them, you can wait a long time.  If you have access to the source
-you always have the option of fixing it yourself, or hiring somebody
-else to do that.  But this is not the greatest of your worries.  You
-are at constant risk of having your software provider discontinue
-support for your language.  This is a real threat, not a theoretical
-one.  In 2002, Microsoft announced that it would no longer be
-supporting Visual Basic 6.0 after the year 2005.  All Visual Basic
-Developers have been told to convert their code to run under
-Microsoft's new .NET framework.  Before that, in 2001 Microsoft
-immediately stopped supporting its Visual J++ language, meant to be a
-direct competitor with Java, after settling a lawsuit with Sun
-Microsystems.  No migration path was specified.  Microsoft is making
-these decisions because they make business sense for Microsoft,
-regardless of the effects on European software developers.
-
-The second threat closed source makes to European competitiveness is
-more insidious, and more long term.  A good workman knows his tools.
-This is much more than the theoretical knowledge of how his tools
-ought to work, according to principles learned in school.  The way car
-mechanics know how cars work is distinctly different from what you
-would know if you had attended classes on 'the principles of the
-internal combustion engine', let alone what you need to know to just
-drive the thing.
-
-Right now, in Europe, we don't have enough of the software equivalents
-of car-mechanics.  And most of them live in academia, where they know
-the intimate details of languages that never get used in industrial
-applications.  The world needs Formula-One race car mechanics, indeed,
-but it has a much greater need for people who know how to repair the
-family car.
-
-It is not as if there is a shortage of people who would be interested
-in learning such things, if the source were made available.  Many
-people have taken this step by learning how CPython does its stuff.
-But still there is a barrier.  If you want to know how CPython does
-things, you need to learn C.  C is a notoriously difficult language to
-learn.
-
-But let me quote from an article posted to the Python-in-Education
-mailing list.
-
-FIXME -- I promised Arthur I would fix any typos::
-
-  Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 11:52:05 -0400
-  From: Arthur <ajsiegel at optonline.net>
-  To: edu-sig at python.org
-  Subject: [Edu-sig] re : If the PyPy Project ...
-  
-  List-Id: Python in education <edu-sig.python.org>
-  
-  Terry -
-  
-  >Since I presume the goal of PyPy is to implement *Python* in Python,
-  >wouldn't the implementation language be rather insignificant to an
-  >end-user such as an educator?  Why would it be "better" than CPython?
-  
-  For whatever reason, the complex built_in  and the cmath module, implemented
-  in Python, are part of the early pypy codebase. As I had been spending some
-  time in the complex realm with PyGeo - a simple version of the complex
-  realm, as these things go - Laura's post gave me the impetus to try to
-  plugin the pypy implementations.
-  
-  Only got stuck on the typing issue.  My code tests for
-  instance(object,complex).  The pypy complexobject, unadorned, is a class -
-  and fails the test.  But that leads me into a deeper look at some of the
-  pypy codebase, trying to understand a little bit of how this kind of issue
-  are to be dealt with.  Not that I got there, yet - but I did seem to have an
-  avenue to explore I would not have with CPython - as someone who doesn't C,
-  and has no intention of trying, seriously, to do so.
-  
-  As someone living within the limits of having Python as my only real
-  language, I think that pypy should open things up for me considerably.  It
-  will make Python, I believe, a more attractive educational language, because
-  it will make someone with a strong foundation in Python - as the language of
-  choice - a more self-sufficient programmer.
-  
-  Presumably - the point is - there will be less cases where the right
-  approach would be an extension module in C or C++, and a sense of
-  fundamental compromise should one not be equipped to go there.  Many
-  thousands of folks - using VB and the like - already do involved,
-  highly performing real world applications and make nice livings doing
-  so, without being equipped to do C.  I am thinking that pypy would put
-  Python more squarely in that "space".
-  
-  Is any of this so, or just hope?
-  
-  Art
-  
-  
-  _______________________________________________
-  Edu-sig mailing list
-  Edu-sig at python.org
-  http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
-  ------------------------------------------------------
-
-Here is somebody who is hoping we can give him a language he can
-understand.  Python already is an excellent teaching language.  PyPy
-will be a better one.
-
-This project has to be done at the European or the International
-level.  That's where we all live.
-DISEMMINATION!!!!
-Since education is a primary goal of the project, we will take every
-opportunity to disseminate PyPy.  The source will always be freely
-available from our website.  We will continue to give talks about PyPy
-at EuroPython, Python-UK, OSCON (the International Open Source
-Conference) the International Python Conference, and <what did I leave
-out> others.  ADD SOME GOOD ONES THAT ARE FOR CSC ACADEMICS
-
-<dinu> How about OOPSLA (Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, 
-Systems, Languages, and Applications), ECOOP (European Conference 
-on Object-Oriented Programming), the MIT Lightweight Languages 
-Workshops and the like as the next target?
-
-ASK STOCKHOLM -- will the EU pay for us to go to conferences?  even
-ones we were going to attend anyway?
-
-These talks will create interest as well as teach techniques.  We will
-submit a PEP and push to get PyPy made the reference implementation of
-the Python programming language(*).  We will continue to discuss PyPy on
-our own mailing lists, as well as other Python mailing lists such as
-the Python-in-Education list, and the Usenet Newsgroup
-comp.lang.python.  We already have an IRC channel, #pypy on
-irc.freenode.net where live online discussions happen, and where we
-communicate with each other while we are apart.  Beyond that -- we are
-willing to take any actions the EU would like to fund.
-
-::
-
-  <arigo> FIXME
-  <arigo> (*) emphasis on this one? If this really happens we'll arguably
-  <arigo> become the software European Project with the largest distribution
-  <arigo> and user base ever (XXX rephrase :-)
-  <arigo> Also mention that the issue (and the word 'PEP') is discussed
-  <arigo> later in B3.1_standards.txt?
-
-Ask Stockholm We think you get no money for this in a STREP.  True?
-
-ASK STOCKHOLM -- 
-can we get some money to give Freenode?
-re: 'Indicate what account is taken of other national or international
-research activities.'  -- Samuele and Armin read the literature all
-the time.  What do I say?
-ppppppppppppppp=======
->>>>>>> .r1670
-FIXME_LAURA: finish writing
-
-FIXME_NICO FIXME_ALASTAIR : proof-read  
-
-:DELETE:BEGIN
-
-B.3  Potential impact
-       
-Describe the strategic impact of the proposed project, for example in
-reinforcing competitiveness or on solving societal problems. Describe
-the innovation-related activities. Describe the exploitation and/or
-dissemination plans which are foreseen to ensure use of the project
-results. Describe the added-value in carrying out the work at a
-European level. Indicate what account is taken of other national or
-international research activities.
-
-(Recommended length ­ three pages)
-
-:DELETE:END
-
-Potential Impact on the Industrial and Research Sectors
-=======================================================
-
-The particular improvements we intend to make to Python will have an
-immediate direct effect on Eropean competitiveness.  What is more, the
-planned improvements directly target the handheld, mobile, and
-embedded device sectors, where Europe is the acknowledged world
-leader.  People working in such industries have long desired a high
-level language with a very small footprint.  The new innovative
-concept of Object Spaces, pioneered by PyPy makes the construction of
-tiny Object Spaces, suitable for running on the smallest devices
-straight-forward.  Indeed, it will be possible for application
-programmers to configure Python runtime environments to suit their
-particular hardware characteristics -- for instance, a version that
-runs in a minimal amount of memory, or a version that can exploit a
-huge amount of memory to achieve the highest performance speed.
-
-The makers of mobile and networked devices, as well as computer game
-designers in the Massively-Multi-Player games industry have long
-desired a language that could automatically balance loads, or that
-allowed massive parallelism through microthreads.  They too will get
-what they desire.
-
-Moreover, a great many companies, in deciding what language to develop
-in, reject Very High Level Languages, despite their known advantages
-for programmer productivity, code-reuse and maintainability because
-the code produced simply does not run fast enough.  If we give them a
-*fast* VHLL, they will switch.
-
-Furthermore, one of the greatest threats to European competitiveness
+One of the greatest threats to European competitiveness
 is its dependence upon proprietary closed source software, mostly made
 in the United States.  This is not only the matter of money being
 spent in the United States is money that is not being spent here,
@@ -785,359 +251,6 @@
 these decisions because they make business sense for Microsoft,
 regardless of the effects on European software developers.
 
-The second threat closed source makes to European competitiveness is
-more insidious, and more long term.  A good workman knows his tools.
-This is much more than the theoretical knowledge of how his tools
-ought to work, according to principles learned in school.  The way car
-mechanics know how cars work is distinctly different from what you
-would know if you had attended classes on 'the principles of the
-internal combustion engine', let alone what you need to know to just
-drive the thing.
-
-Right now, in Europe, we don't have enough of the software equivalents
-of car-mechanics.  And most of them live in academia, where they know
-the intimate details of languages that never get used in industrial
-applications.  The world needs Formula-One race car mechanics, indeed,
-but it has a much greater need for people who know how to repair the
-family car.
-
-It is not as if there is a shortage of people who would be interested
-in learning such things, if the source were made available.  Many
-people have taken this step by learning how CPython does its stuff.
-But still there is a barrier.  If you want to know how CPython does
-things, you need to learn C.  C is a notoriously difficult language to
-learn.
-
-But let me quote from an article posted to the Python-in-Education
-mailing list.
-
-FIXME -- I promised Arthur I would fix any typos::
-
-  Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 11:52:05 -0400
-  From: Arthur <ajsiegel at optonline.net>
-  To: edu-sig at python.org
-  Subject: [Edu-sig] re : If the PyPy Project ...
-  
-  List-Id: Python in education <edu-sig.python.org>
-  
-  Terry -
-  
-  >Since I presume the goal of PyPy is to implement *Python* in Python,
-  >wouldn't the implementation language be rather insignificant to an
-  >end-user such as an educator?  Why would it be "better" than CPython?
-  
-  For whatever reason, the complex built_in  and the cmath module, implemented
-  in Python, are part of the early pypy codebase. As I had been spending some
-  time in the complex realm with PyGeo - a simple version of the complex
-  realm, as these things go - Laura's post gave me the impetus to try to
-  plugin the pypy implementations.
-  
-  Only got stuck on the typing issue.  My code tests for
-  instance(object,complex).  The pypy complexobject, unadorned, is a class -
-  and fails the test.  But that leads me into a deeper look at some of the
-  pypy codebase, trying to understand a little bit of how this kind of issue
-  are to be dealt with.  Not that I got there, yet - but I did seem to have an
-  avenue to explore I would not have with CPython - as someone who doesn't C,
-  and has no intention of trying, seriously, to do so.
-  
-  As someone living within the limits of having Python as my only real
-  language, I think that pypy should open things up for me considerably.  It
-  will make Python, I believe, a more attractive educational language, because
-  it will make someone with a strong foundation in Python - as the language of
-  choice - a more self-sufficient programmer.
-  
-  Presumably - the point is - there will be less cases where the right
-  approach would be an extension module in C or C++, and a sense of
-  fundamental compromise should one not be equipped to go there.  Many
-  thousands of folks - using VB and the like - already do involved,
-  highly performing real world applications and make nice livings doing
-  so, without being equipped to do C.  I am thinking that pypy would put
-  Python more squarely in that "space".
-  
-  Is any of this so, or just hope?
-  
-  Art
-  
-  
-  _______________________________________________
-  Edu-sig mailing list
-  Edu-sig at python.org
-  http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
-  ------------------------------------------------------
-
-Here is somebody who is hoping we can give him a language he can
-understand.  Python already is an excellent teaching language.  PyPy
-will be a better one.
-
-This project has to be done at the European or the International
-level.  That's where we all live.
-DISEMMINATION!!!!
-Since education is a primary goal of the project, we will take every
-opportunity to disseminate PyPy.  The source will always be freely
-available from our website.  We will continue to give talks about PyPy
-at EuroPython, Python-UK, OSCON (the International Open Source
-Conference) the International Python Conference, and <what did I leave
-out> others.  ADD SOME GOOD ONES THAT ARE FOR CSC ACADEMICS
-
-<dinu> How about OOPSLA (Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, 
-Systems, Languages, and Applications), ECOOP (European Conference 
-on Object-Oriented Programming), the MIT Lightweight Languages 
-Workshops and the like as the next target?
-
-ASK STOCKHOLM -- will the EU pay for us to go to conferences?  even
-ones we were going to attend anyway?
-
-These talks will create interest as well as teach techniques.  We will
-submit a PEP and push to get PyPy made the reference implementation of
-the Python programming language(*).  We will continue to discuss PyPy on
-our own mailing lists, as well as other Python mailing lists such as
-the Python-in-Education list, and the Usenet Newsgroup
-comp.lang.python.  We already have an IRC channel, #pypy on
-irc.freenode.net where live online discussions happen, and where we
-communicate with each other while we are apart.  Beyond that -- we are
-willing to take any actions the EU would like to fund.
-
-::
-
-  <arigo> FIXME
-  <arigo> (*) emphasis on this one? If this really happens we'll arguably
-  <arigo> become the software European Project with the largest distribution
-  <arigo> and user base ever (XXX rephrase :-)
-  <arigo> Also mention that the issue (and the word 'PEP') is discussed
-  <arigo> later in B3.1_standards.txt?
-
-Ask Stockholm We think you get no money for this in a STREP.  True?
-
-ASK STOCKHOLM -- 
-can we get some money to give Freenode?
-re: 'Indicate what account is taken of other national or international
-research activities.'  -- Samuele and Armin read the literature all
-the time.  What do I say?
-pppppppppppppppFIXME_LAURA: finish writing
-
-FIXME_NICO FIXME_ALASTAIR : proof-read  
-
-:DELETE:BEGIN
-
-B.3  Potential impact
-       
-Describe the strategic impact of the proposed project, for example in
-reinforcing competitiveness or on solving societal problems. Describe
-the innovation-related activities. Describe the exploitation and/or
-dissemination plans which are foreseen to ensure use of the project
-results. Describe the added-value in carrying out the work at a
-European level. Indicate what account is taken of other national or
-international research activities.
-
-(Recommended length ­ three pages)
-
-:DELETE:END
-
-Potential Impact on the Industrial and Research Sectors
-=======================================================
-
-The particular improvements we intend to make to Python will have an
-immediate direct effect on Eropean competitiveness.  What is more, the
-planned improvements directly target the handheld, mobile, and
-embedded device sectors, where Europe is the acknowledged world
-leader.  People working in such industries have long desired a high
-level language with a very small footprint.  The new innovative
-concept of Object Spaces, pioneered by PyPy makes the construction of
-tiny Object Spaces, suitable for running on the smallest devices
-straight-forward.  Indeed, it will be possible for application
-programmers to configure Python runtime environments to suit their
-particular hardware characteristics -- for instance, a version that
-runs in a minimal amount of memory, or a version that can exploit a
-huge amount of memory to achieve the highest performance speed.
-
-The makers of mobile and networked devices, as well as computer game
-designers in the Massively-Multi-Player games industry have long
-desired a language that could automatically balance loads, or that
-allowed massive parallelism through microthreads.  They too will get
-what they desire.
-
-Moreover, a great many companies, in deciding what language to develop
-in, reject Very High Level Languages, despite their known advantages
-for programmer productivity, code-reuse and maintainability because
-the code produced simply does not run fast enough.  If we give them a
-*fast* VHLL, they will switch.
-
-Furthermore, one of the greatest threats to European competitiveness
-is its dependence upon proprietary closed source software, mostly made
-in the United States.  This is not only the matter of money being
-spent in the United States is money that is not being spent here,
-although that affects matters as well.  There are two more serious
-risks.  The first is a threat in the present.
-
-Any company which writes its software in a proprietary, closed source
-language is dependent upon its software provider.  If you have a bug,
-you must wait for them to fix it.  If this bug is not a high priority
-for them, you can wait a long time.  If you have access to the source
-you always have the option of fixing it yourself, or hiring somebody
-else to do that.  But this is not the greatest of your worries.  You
-are at constant risk of having your software provider discontinue
-support for your language.  This is a real threat, not a theoretical
-one.  In 2002, Microsoft announced that it would no longer be
-supporting Visual Basic 6.0 after the year 2005.  All Visual Basic
-Developers have been told to convert their code to run under
-Microsoft's new .NET framework.  Before that, in 2001 Microsoft
-immediately stopped supporting its Visual J++ language, meant to be a
-direct competitor with Java, after settling a lawsuit with Sun
-Microsystems.  No migration path was specified.  Microsoft is making
-these decisions because they make business sense for Microsoft,
-regardless of the effects on European software developers.
-
-The second threat closed source makes to European competitiveness is
-more insidious, and more long term.  A good workman knows his tools.
-This is much more than the theoretical knowledge of how his tools
-ought to work, according to principles learned in school.  The way car
-mechanics know how cars work is distinctly different from what you
-would know if you had attended classes on 'the principles of the
-internal combustion engine', let alone what you need to know to just
-drive the thing.
-
-Right now, in Europe, we don't have enough of the software equivalents
-of car-mechanics.  And most of them live in academia, where they know
-the intimate details of languages that never get used in industrial
-applications.  The world needs Formula-One race car mechanics, indeed,
-but it has a much greater need for people who know how to repair the
-family car.
-
-It is not as if there is a shortage of people who would be interested
-in learning such things, if the source were made available.  Many
-people have taken this step by learning how CPython does its stuff.
-But still there is a barrier.  If you want to know how CPython does
-things, you need to learn C.  C is a notoriously difficult language to
-learn.
-
-But let me quote from an article posted to the Python-in-Education
-mailing list.
-
-FIXME -- I promised Arthur I would fix any typos::
-
-  Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 11:52:05 -0400
-  From: Arthur <ajsiegel at optonline.net>
-  To: edu-sig at python.org
-  Subject: [Edu-sig] re : If the PyPy Project ...
-  
-  List-Id: Python in education <edu-sig.python.org>
-  
-  Terry -
-  
-  >Since I presume the goal of PyPy is to implement *Python* in Python,
-  >wouldn't the implementation language be rather insignificant to an
-  >end-user such as an educator?  Why would it be "better" than CPython?
-  
-  For whatever reason, the complex built_in  and the cmath module, implemented
-  in Python, are part of the early pypy codebase. As I had been spending some
-  time in the complex realm with PyGeo - a simple version of the complex
-  realm, as these things go - Laura's post gave me the impetus to try to
-  plugin the pypy implementations.
-  
-  Only got stuck on the typing issue.  My code tests for
-  instance(object,complex).  The pypy complexobject, unadorned, is a class -
-  and fails the test.  But that leads me into a deeper look at some of the
-  pypy codebase, trying to understand a little bit of how this kind of issue
-  are to be dealt with.  Not that I got there, yet - but I did seem to have an
-  avenue to explore I would not have with CPython - as someone who doesn't C,
-  and has no intention of trying, seriously, to do so.
-  
-  As someone living within the limits of having Python as my only real
-  language, I think that pypy should open things up for me considerably.  It
-  will make Python, I believe, a more attractive educational language, because
-  it will make someone with a strong foundation in Python - as the language of
-  choice - a more self-sufficient programmer.
-  
-  Presumably - the point is - there will be less cases where the right
-  approach would be an extension module in C or C++, and a sense of
-  fundamental compromise should one not be equipped to go there.  Many
-  thousands of folks - using VB and the like - already do involved,
-  highly performing real world applications and make nice livings doing
-  so, without being equipped to do C.  I am thinking that pypy would put
-  Python more squarely in that "space".
-  
-  Is any of this so, or just hope?
-  
-  Art
-  
-  
-  _______________________________________________
-  Edu-sig mailing list
-  Edu-sig at python.org
-  http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
-  ------------------------------------------------------
-
-Here is somebody who is hoping we can give him a language he can
-understand.  Python already is an excellent teaching language.  PyPy
-will be a better one.
-
-This project has to be done at the European or the International
-level.  That's where we all live.
-
-Since education is a primary goal of the project, we will take every
-opportunity to disseminate PyPy.  The source will always be freely
-available from our website.  We will continue to give talks about PyPy
-at EuroPython, Python-UK, OSCON (the International Open Source
-Conference) the International Python Conference, and <what did I leave
-out> others.  ADD SOME GOOD ONES THAT ARE FOR CSC ACADEMICS
-
-<dinu> How about OOPSLA (Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, 
-Systems, Languages, and Applications), ECOOP (European Conference 
-on Object-Oriented Programming), the MIT Lightweight Languages 
-Workshops and the like as the next target?
-
-ASK STOCKHOLM -- will the EU pay for us to go to conferences?  even
-ones we were going to attend anyway?
-
-These talks will create interest as well as teach techniques.  We will
-submit a PEP and push to get PyPy made the reference implementation of
-the Python programming language(*).  We will continue to discuss PyPy on
-our own mailing lists, as well as other Python mailing lists such as
-the Python-in-Education list, and the Usenet Newsgroup
-comp.lang.python.  We already have an IRC channel, #pypy on
-irc.freenode.net where live online discussions happen, and where we
-communicate with each other while we are apart.  Beyond that -- we are
-willing to take any actions the EU would like to fund.
-
-::
-
-  <arigo> FIXME
-  <arigo> (*) emphasis on this one? If this really happens we'll arguably
-  <arigo> become the software European Project with the largest distribution
-  <arigo> and user base ever (XXX rephrase :-)
-  <arigo> Also mention that the issue (and the word 'PEP') is discussed
-  <arigo> later in B3.1_standards.txt?
-
-Ask Stockholm We think you get no money for this in a STREP.  True?
-
-ASK STOCKHOLM -- 
-can we get some money to give Freenode?
-re: 'Indicate what account is taken of other national or international
-research activities.'  -- Samuele and Armin read the literature all
-the time.  What do I say?
-pppppppppppppppFIXME_LAURA: finish writing
-
-FIXME_NICO FIXME_ALASTAIR : proof-read  
-
-:DELETE:BEGIN
-
-B.3  Potential impact
-       
-Describe the strategic impact of the proposed project, for example in
-reinforcing competitiveness or on solving societal problems. Describe
-the innovation-related activities. Describe the exploitation and/or
-dissemination plans which are foreseen to ensure use of the project
-results. Describe the added-value in carrying out the work at a
-European level. Indicate what account is taken of other national or
-international research activities.
-
-(Recommended length ­ three pages)
-
-:DELETE:END
-
-Potential Impact on the Balance of Trade
-======================================== 
-
 Right now Python is the sixth most popular programming language in the
 world.  Java and Visual Basic, ranked 1 and 2, are closed source
 proprietary American products.  The number one reason that is cited by


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