Article of interest: Python pros/cons for the enterprise

[Jeff Schwab]

Nicola Musatti wrote:

> The real sad thing is that nobody is likely to convince Guido to turn
> CPython into C++Python ;-)

How difficult would that be?  Could it be done in stages?  I would be 
willing to spend some time on that kind of project.  Since I know almost 
nothing about Python internals, though, I'd appreciate it if a 
C++-fluent Python expert could give an estimate in person-months.  Also, 
what would be the general break-down?  Maybe:

(1) Prepare a build environment appropriate for Python, supporting code 
in both C and C++.  Include unit-test targets, and a mechanism for 
module developers to add unit tests to those targets.

(2) Get all the headers C++-clean.

(3) Begin translating one module at a time.  Different people could work 
on different modules, and add their test-cases to the global target.

One potential problem would be linkage.  Would Python-internal C++ 
modules still have to provide C-linkable APIs, so that they could be 
invoked from other parts of Python?  A breakdown of module dependencies 
would help address this issue, so that it would be clear which parts of 
the code-base would be directly affected by translating a given module 
to C++.

At the external API level, would it still be important to support 
C-style linkage, even if the implementation code isn't written in C?  I 
don't know whether it's realistic for people embedding Python in non-C++ 
applications to have to work directly with C++ APIs.