[Python-Dev] Stackless Python

[Guido van Rossum]

> At 07:06 AM 6/2/04 -0700, Guido van Rossum wrote:
> >Stackless is *not* a minor change to Python, and that it severely
> >restricts the ways in which Python can interact with other systems,
> >be they hardware platforms, software frameworks, or 3rd party
> >extensions.

[Phillip]
> It's definitely not a minor change, but I think that the severe 
> restrictions comment may perhaps be inaccurate.  My understanding at this 
> point from Bob and Christian is that for tasklets (which are apparently 
> what most people want from Stackless), the code is portable, pure C, and 
> has no effect on code that doesn't use tasklets, except in performance.
> 
> However, rather than continue discussion on this point, it would probably 
> be better if the people who actually understand the Stackless 
> implementation were to write a tasklets PEP addressing what *specifically* 
> would be the *minimum* changes to the CPython interpreter to support 
> co-operative multitasking.
> 
> By specifically, I mean listing what core functions/objects will be 
> changed, and how those changes will impact other code.  Do any 
> interfaces/APIs change?  Is there anything that people writing new core 
> code or extensions have to be aware of?  And so on.  A full statement of 
> impact, in other words.  At that point, a pronouncement could be made on 
> the basis of those specifics, and if the answer is no, then the PEP would 
> provide a convenient place to point people to in the future, thus avoiding 
> further reiterations of this discussion.  And, in the meanwhile, it gives 
> you and Martin a way to tell the other folks to "PEP up or shut up".  :)

Right.  That PEP better explain how one writes C code that calls into
Python without involving the C stack as well!

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)