[Python-Dev] Stackless Python

[Eric Mathew Hopper]

I'm working on a project (http://www.cakem.net/) that involves
networking.  I have to do a lot of decoding of network data into an
internal representation, and encoding internal representations into a
network format.

The decoding part is going to present a problem, a problem that could
easily be solved by continuations.

I want to right the code so that it will work when there is no guarantee
that I'll have an entire message before I start decoding it.  This means
the parser may have have to stop at any random point in time, and then
be restarted again when more data is available.  I see no way to do this
without continuations, or threads, and I refuse to use threads for
something like this.

For now, I think I will do one of two things.  Either build in the
assumption that I will have the entire messages before I start parsing,
or organize parsing as a series of steps that can be aborted in the
middle and then restarted, and use exceptions to track whether the step
was fully completed or not.  Sort of a poor man's continuation.

Anyway, I'm not a Python developer, just a user.  I just wanted to add
this to the things you consider when you decide what you intend to do
next with Python.  Continuations are important, and AFAIK, the stackless
mod is the only way to get them.

Thanks,
-- 
"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.
It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."  --- Thomas Jefferson
"Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company."  -- Mark Twain
-- Eric Hopper (hopper at omnifarious.org  http://www.omnifarious.org/~hopper) --
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