[Python-Dev] Let's change to C API!

[Jeroen Demeyer]

On 2018-08-23 07:36, Antoine Pitrou wrote:
> - the bootstrap problem (Cython self-compiles with CPython)

This is not a big problem: we can make sure that all stdlib dependencies 
of Cython either have PEP 399 pure Python implementations or we keep 
them in pure C.

> - the dependency / versioning problem (Cython is a large quick-evolving
>    third-party package that we can't decently vendor)

Is that a real problem? You're sort of doing the same thing with pip 
already.

> - the maintenance problem (how do ensure we can change small things in
>    the C API, especially semi-private ones, without having to submit PRs
>    to Cython as well)

Why don't you want to submit PRs to Cython? If you're saying "I don't 
want to wait for the next stable release of Cython", you could use 
development versions of Cython for development versions of CPython.

> - the debugging problem (Cython's generated C code is unreadable,
>    unlike Argument Clinic's, which can make debugging annoying)

Luckily, you don't need to read the C code most of the time. And it's 
also a matter of experience: I can read Cython-generated C code just fine.


Jeroen.