Python equivalent of call/cc?

[Larry Bates]

The Pythonista wrote:
> Yesterday, I was hacking around a bit, trying to figure out how to 
> implement the semantics of call/cc in Python.  Specifically, I wanted to 
> translate this Scheme code to equivalent Python:
> 
> ####
> 
> (define theContinuation #f)
>  
>  (define (test)
>    (let ((i 0))
>      (call/cc (lambda (k) (set! theContinuation k)))
>      (set! i (+ i 1))
>      i))
> 
>   (test)
>   (theContinuation)
>   (theContinuation)
> 
> ####
> 
> Incidentally, those last three lines evaluate to 1, 2, and 3, 
> respectively.
> 
> The best Python translation I could come up with was something like this 
> (targeted at Python 2.5):
> 
> ####
> import inspect
> 
> theContinuation = None
> 
> def call_cc (f):
>     f (inspect.currentframe().f_back)
> 
> def invoke (c):
>     exec c.f_code in c.f_globals, c.f_locals
>     
> def test():
>     i = 0
>     call_cc (lambda k: globals().update({'theContinuation' : k }))
>     i = i + 1
>     print i
> 
> test()
> invoke (theContinuation)
> invoke (theContinuation)
> 
> ####
> 
> Now, this code is wrong on a number of levels [I am indeed aware of 
> exactly how ugly that lambda is...], but, in particular, my 
> continuations / stack frames don't seem to be resuming at the right 
> point.  I'd expect invoke (theContinuation) to restart on the line 
> immediately following call_cc, but it does not.  Not surprisingly, the 
> output is also wrong.  (I get 1, 1, and 1 rather than 1, 2, and 3.)
> 
> Can anyone help me by, perhaps pointing out some silly error I made?  
> Failing that, can someone show me a working implementation of call/cc 
> (preferably based on some form of stack inspection)?
> 
> Thanks!

While I know absolutely no scheme what you show here is a generator in Python.

def theContinuation():
     n = 0
     while 1:
         n += 1
         yield n


invoke = theContinuation()

print
print invoke.next()
print invoke.next()
print invoke.next()

Maybe that is what you are looking for?

-Larry