[Python-Dev] Re: native code compiler? (or, OCaml vs. Python)

[Michael Hudson]

Dan Sugalski <dan@sidhe.org> writes:

> The original topic was native-code compilers, and it was put forth
> that writing one for a dynamic language was either very hard or
> impossble, and if you did there wasn't much win. The counterexamples
> of the Scheme and Smalltalk compilers are relevant--both languages are
> more dynamic at runtime, and both languages have native compilers that
> provide significant speed benefits, and both languages have
> implementations with relatively little man-time and brainpower that
> provided significant speed benefits without semantic changes.

It's unclear to me that scheme is more dynamic than Python.  Are you
thinking of call/cc or something?  What I know of Smalltalk
(i.e. almost nothing) lends me to believe you on that one.

Cheers,
M.

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