Python 2.0 and Stackless

[Brad Knotwell]

Jeremy Hylton <jeremy at beopen.com> writes:
> The official word: 
> I would be surprised if Guido agreed to merge in code from the
> stackless variant before Python 3000.  The biggest problems are
> compatibility with JPython and the effects on the Python C API.
> Neither of these problems are insurmountable, but they are hard.

I don't understand the JPython argument.  Per Bothner's Java implementation
of scheme (Kawa) implements continuations (not full continuations at this
point; according to Per, the basic design for full call/cc support is done 
and he's begun writing the necessary code).

Is the incompatibility with Java an issue only because there's not 
*currently* a stackless patch for JPython?

Similarly, I don't understand the compatibility argument.  Further
along in this thread, a person using stackless python claims to be able 
to use the same CPython modules as everyone else without modification.

> -- Jeremy Hylton <http://www.python.org/~jeremy/>

Continuations aside, I'd be happy for now with lexical scoping.  Is there any 
chance of this patch (Greg Ewing, right???) being included?

Personally, some of the debates over SLP, scoping, and GC appear rather
surreal.  To a casual observer, it appears people write code that deal
with obvious limitations in python and their effort is ignored.

FWIW, I took a look at the PEPs.  Zip and list comprehensions (someone's
obviously a haskell fan) appear interesting.  It would also be interesting
to have a zipWith primitive of the type:

	zipWith (withFn,seqa, [seqb, [...]]) --> ['a]
		where withFn ('b,'c,'d,'e,. . .) -> 'a

FWIW, I suppose this would be moot if we had list comprehensions.

Out of curiousity, have there been PEPs submitted asking for a hygienic macro
system (ala Dylan or Scheme)?

--Brad