[pypy-dev] a faster Python not a primary goal of PyPy?

[Carl Friedrich Bolz]

Hi Martijn,

since I am in a very nitpicking mode...

Martijn Faassen wrote:
> holger krekel wrote:
> [snip]
>> PyPy is not primarily - at least not only - about making
>> Python faster although many people like to view it this way :-) 
> 
> This correction is a bit confusing... It is not surprising that people 
> view "a faster Python" as a primary goal of your project, as that's the 
> message that's been spread repeatedly by you all over the years:
> 
> "The PyPy project aims at producing a flexible and fast Python 
> implementation. The guiding idea is to translate a Python-level 
> description of the Python language itself to lower level languages. 
> Rumors have it that the secret goal is being faster-than-C which is 
> nonsense, isn't it?"

Note that it says "fexible and fast": fexible comes first. And we 
explicitely say that the faster-than-C goal is nonsense.

> and
> 
> "In the next step of the project, we will generate C code or machine 
> code from the source of Pypy, thereby reducing the speed penalty.
> 

"reducing the speed penalty" does not imply being very fast. It just 
means being not so slow.

> Later in the project, we will introduce optimisation steps that should 
> make Pypy run faster than CPython."
> 
> and
> 
> "Psyco is a Python extension module which can massively speed up the 
> execution of any Python code.
> ...
> The future of Psyco now lies in the PyPy project, which according to 
> plan will provide a good base for a Python interpreter with better and 
> well-integrated Psyco-like techniques as soon as 2006."

"a good base" does not necessarily mean as fast as Psyco is now.

> I certainly hope that your "not primarily - at least not only" doesn't 
> indicate that the goal of making Python faster is slowly becoming less 
> important to you all, as I'd very much like a faster Python, and more 
> flexibility of implementation is, while of tremendous personal interest 
> to me, not one of much business interest in the foreseeable future, 
> which means it's unlikely I'll get to play with PyPy much unless it 
> offers performance benefits.
> 
> I realize that of course that flexibility has always been a primary goal 
> of PyPy as well; obviously speed isn't the *only* goal of the project, 
> but the flexibility goal now dominates and a faster Python is indeed not 
> of primary importance to the project, I would suggest you revise the 
> previous statements, which make it rather likely people will get this 
> wrong impression.
> 

Holger's statement is very important. At the moment most people have the 
notion that PyPy is mainly about speed. But the really exciting fact 
about PyPy is its flexibility, therefore it makes sense to advertise the 
flexibility goals a bit (even if that means diminishing the speed goal 
in one single mail to pypy-dev). Of course, achieving high speed is a 
worthwhile goal but this goal can be reached _because of_ the 
flexibility of PyPy (not the other way round).

:-)

Cheers,

Carl Friedrich