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Is Stackless Python DEAD?

Mike C. Fletcher mcfletch at home.com
Mon Nov 5 13:36:26 EST 2001 
I'm not sure I understand this argument.  The current version is
drop-in-compatible with the standard Python 2.0 DLL.  You don't re-compile
anything in extension modules, they just work the same as with the standard
distribution.

The patch is (apparently, haven't looked at it) intrusive in it's re-design
of the core loop of the interpreter (it is re-writing some pretty basic
mechanisms, after all), but for user-land (as distinct from
interpreter-implementer-land) code, it's pretty much transparent in my
experience.

With that said, there are likely to be systems that don't work well under
(for instance) micro-threading.  Modules that need locks and expect
micro-threads to look like real threads will be disappointed (1000s of them
can be running in a single OS-level thread, so regular thread locks don't
block the micro-threads).  However, that's a problem only for those users
actually using the Stackless-specific stuff (in essence if there are no
micro-threads running, then the thread-assuming extensions work fine).

Enjoy,
Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: python-list-admin at python.org
[mailto:python-list-admin at python.org]On Behalf Of A.M. Kuchling
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 08:53
To: python-list at python.org
Subject: Re: Is Stackless Python DEAD?


On Mon, 05 Nov 2001 02:13:00 GMT,
	Frederic Giacometti <frederic.giacometti at arakne.com> wrote:
>This words seems to point out that the actual reason is not technical...
>This is definitely not a word from the realm of engineering, but more from
>someone sense of his core self being disturbed by an outsider.

Not at all.  Stackless would have ramifications not just for a few
files in the core, but also for all the extension modules that come
with Python and for all the authors of third-party extension modules.
In terms of number of files affected, "intrusive" isn't a bad word to
describe the Stackless patches.

--amk
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