A modest proposal

[Tim Hammerquist]

Hans Nowak <wurmy at earthlink.net> graced us by uttering:
> Paul Rubin wrote:
>> "Stuart D. Gathman" <stuart at bmsi.com> writes:
>> > I have been putting my thoughts toward the elusive goal of making python
>> > as fast as some LISP dialects.
>> 
>> The way to do that is with a compiler.  Speeding up access to globals
>> may help a little, but probably not nearly as much.
> 
> Aight, here's a wild-assed idea, unrelated to the proposal... since
> Python and Lisp are both dynamic languages, would it be possible to
> write a Python-to-Lisp translator, and then compile the Lisp code
> using one of those efficient Lisp compilers?

A partial solution, but in keeping with the Unix Philosophy, might be
the (quite serious) Parrot project <http://www.parrotcode.org/>, a
non-language-specific backend being developed for Perl 6.  There has
already been much talk about creating a Python front-end in addition
to the normal Perl, leading to speculation about a translating ability,
byte-compiling from orig. language and disassembling to another.

Would a Lisp front-end to this engine be plausible?

Tim Hammerquist
-- 
It has been truly said that hackers have even more words for
equipment failures than Yiddish has for obnoxious people.
    -- Jargon File 4.3.1