[Python-ideas] Summer of Code Project Idea: Python Apps in the Browser

[Raymond Hettinger]

The http://gumbyapp.com/ project succeeded in getting Python to run in the browser but it can't import pure python modules (because there is no filesystem in the browser).

I think it would be wonderful to beef-up this project by bundling-in the rest of the standard library.  Gumby was built by compiling CPython to LLVM and then generating Javascript.  ISTM it would be possible to write a script to transform pure python standard library modules into C strings that could also be part of the final build.  The import-statement would have to be hooked to search for the C string instead of a physical file.

If that technique works, it may not be hard to extend it so that user defined python modules could also be incorporated.  If so, it would become possible to create standalone Python apps that run in the browser.   The process is likely to be inefficient, but the gumbyapp site shows that it might be good enough for some purposes.


Raymond

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