[Python-Dev] [ python-Patches-876206 ] scary frame speed hacks

[Armin Rigo]

Hello Michael,

On Tue, Mar 02, 2004 at 05:26:56PM +0000, Michael Hudson wrote:
> But list_sort pushes quite a large object onto the stack.  So if you
> arrange for that too appear on the stack repeatedly, you get a crash
> much earlier.
> 
> Python's recursion limit is a nasty hack.  Unfortunately, all the
> alternatives are worse :-( (except some variant of stackless, I guess,
> but that probably doesn't help the list_sort business).

What about limiting the byte size of the C stack, instead of the recursion
level?  You can estimate the current size of the stack in a C program fairly
easily (although it is a clear hack, I expect it to work on any platform): get
the difference between a pointer to some local variable and a (previously
saved) pointer to a local variable in some C frame near the bottom.


Armin