Robert Bradshaw wrote: > Though it is tempting to head down the language development path, > adding little (or big) features that make it more powerful than > Python itself, I think doing so will actually be counterproductive to > the goals stated above. Perhaps there could be a Cython++ that is a > proper superset of the Cython language with more powerful features > (though I'd hope not near the gap of C vs. C++) but in the near term > we should be focusing on things like being able to compile all of > Python as it is.
I agree with Robert. As long as Cython does not support closures, for example, it cannot come close enough to being a real option for speeding up existing (non-static) Python code and making it easy to use for non-C-but-Python programmers. For the time being, we should try to a) implement as many Python (3?) language features as possible, keeping in mind that a correct implementation is more important than a fast one, especially for dynamic features that do not have a direct counterpart in the C world. b) get a well-designed and well-integrated compile-time code transformation infrastructure in place, thus allowing to provide pluggable language enhancements *later* and independent of the core compiler, which could then become an advanced Cython++ distribution (or make it back into mainstream). I see the major focus here on adjusting the line between compile-time and runtime code evaluation, and maybe some additional AOP features (as the ones Martin described). I think it would help Cython a *lot* to have a stable core language feature set that is well based in the Python language, *before* we start extending the language with all sorts of 'cool' new features that may already have some sort of (run-time) equivalent in Python. For a programming language, stability is a very valuable feature of its own - and there should (preferrably) be "one way to do it". That's why I like Martin's transformers, for example, they look like plain Python but run at compile time. I think that's the way to do it. Stefan _______________________________________________ Cython-dev mailing list [email protected] http://codespeak.net/mailman/listinfo/cython-dev
