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Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 15:46:07 -0400
Subject: Re: What other languages use the same data model as Python?
From: Benjamin Kaplan <benjamin.kaplan@case.edu>
To: python-list@python.org
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On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 3:22 PM, harrismh777 <harrismh777@charter.net> wrote=
:
> Hans Georg Schaathun wrote:
>>
>> It only works by assuming
>> knowledge of C, which is language which has proved unsuitable for
>> complex and abstract data modelling.
>
> =A0 That statement is untrue; evidenced by the very fact the CPython's co=
mplex
> and abstract data modeling has been very suitably handled by C.
> =A0 You cannot possibly mean what you have asserted... I realize there mu=
st be
> a contextual problem. =A0I have been handling complex data abstractions w=
ith C
> for more than 20 years... its quite well suited to the task... although, =
I
> am able to do my research today faster and with less lines of code in
> CPython. =A0That does not in any way impugn C..;. quite the contrary, giv=
en
> enough time, =A0C is better suited for modeling on a von Neumann processo=
r,
> period.
>
> =A0 Here is the thing that everyone forgets... all we have to work with i=
s a
> von Neumann processor. (same as EDVAC, ENIAC, the VIC20, etc). Assembler =
is
> still the best language on that processor. =A0'C' =A0is still the best
> high-level language on that processor. =A0CPython is implemented in C for=
 a
> reason: =A0gcc and the von Neumann processor make it a no-brainer.
>

CPython is implemented in C because that's the language chosen. Python
is also implemented in Java, C#, Python, and several other languages.
And it's not tied to the von Neumann architecture either. Only the
current implementations of it are.

> =A0 Its silly to claim that one high-level language or another is better
> suited to complex data abstraction... don't go there.
>
>
>> Digging down into C should be unnecessary to explain Python.
>
>
> =A0 huh? =A0 You have to be kidding. Why do you suppose we want it to be
> open-sourced? =A0 Use the force Luke, read the source. =A0 If you really =
want to
> know how Python is working you *must* dig down into the C code which
> implements it. =A0The folks who document Python should be able to tell us
> enough to know how to use the language, but to really 'know' you need the
> implementation source.
>

Reading the CPython sources will show you how CPython works under the
hood, but it has nothing to do with how Python works. There are lots
of things that CPython does that "Python" does not. For instance, the
GIL is not a part of Python. Reference counting is not a part of
Python. Caching small integers and strings is not a part of Python.
Why not read the Jython sources instead of the CPython? It's the same
language, after all.