future of Python: Stackless, Standard -> fragmentation ?

[Christian Tismer]

Grant Griffin wrote:

[good stuff]

> That was very interesting, and it makes good sense.  But I guess the
> thing that confuses me, in that context, is the assertion I have read
> that Stackless is 100% backwards compatible with CPython.  Is the
> "irreconcilable difference", then, in terms of the _new_ features or
> capabilities that Stackless adds?  If so, JPython programmers presumably
> could happily continue to do without them, in the same way that CPython
> programmers currently do; only programs that rely on the new features
> would be incompatible with JPython.

Right! There is 100% backwards compatibility with CPython.
The funny argument is in fact that with Stackless, there
would be modules written that would not run at all or
without larger changes on JPython.

That makes me into the one who seeds incompatibility between the two.

But! With the same consideration, one could argue: Why was JPython
written at all? Jim Hugunin *knew* that the Java VM isn't capable
to express everything that can be done with C, so it was clear
that there would be lots of modules for CPython which cannot
easily be ported, since yet there are no written resrictions
on what you are allowed to code in C.

So Jim should have foreseen that I would write continuations in
the future, and either not write JPython or change the JVM. :-))

I still consider these considerations ridiculous, born from
the fear these continuations could make it into Python somehow.
I never saw the argument "don't do this since JPython can't do it"
before I begun to break the holy stack.

guilty-ly y'rs - chris

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