Why is python not written in C++ ?

Terry Reedy tjreedy at udel.edu
Sun Aug 1 20:01:59 EDT 2010


On 8/1/2010 7:08 PM, candide wrote:
> Python is an object oriented langage (OOL). The Python main
> implementation is written in pure and "old" C90. Is it for historical
> reasons?

Python was first released before C++. C is available on, and hence 
Python runs on, systems that do not have C++ available.

> C is not an OOL and C++ strongly is. I wonder if it wouldn't be more
> suitable to implement an OOL with another one.

Python's object system is sufficiently different from that of C++ that I 
doubt the latter could used with much profit.

> Has it ever been planned to rewrite in C++ the historical implementation
> (of course in an object oriented design) ?

Proposed and rejected. Not every C programmer knows or wants to learn C++.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy




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