"Santiago Romero" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Why not a Python COMPILER?
Check out CLPython it has a Python compiler, though I highly doubt it is what you are thinking of. >From http://common-lisp.net/project/clpython/manual.html Sometimes, the generated Python code can be simplified because the value of an expressions is known at compile time. This is where compiler macros come in. In this example, as 4 > 3 always holds, the compiler macro for py-> replaces (funcall #'py-> 4 3) by the Python value True. After that, the compiler macro for py-val->lisp-bool recognizing True is a constant value, replaces (py-val->lisp-bool True) by t. The Lisp compiler then deduces that always the first branch of the if expression is taken, and replace the whole (cond ...) by (py-print nil (list "y") nil). In this example the compiler macros were able to remove a lot of the Lisp code at compile time. This results in more efficient code. However, in practice there is often not that much that can be decided at compile time, due to Python-the-language being very dynamic. For example, in the expression 5 + x the value of x can be anything. As classes are able to redefine how the + operator behaves (by means of the __add__ and __radd__ methods), the value of 5 + x can be anything as well. Unless the context gives more information about the type of x, the Lisp code must contain a call to the generic addition function py-+. Nevertheless, the compiler macro will inline "common" case, and make the generic call only for "uncommon" arguments. If small integers (fixnums) are common for the + operator, the compiler macro for py-+ could emit: (if (typep x 'fixnum) (+ 5 x) (py-+ 5 x))The check for x being fixnum is very fast; and if x is indeed a fixnum then the inline addition is also very fast. If x is not a fixnum, it could another kind of (Lisp) number, or even a Pythonic object posing as a number. The generic py-+ will handle that. Compiled vs Interpreted Code CLPython can run Python code in two modes, interpreted or compiled. In the latter case, the Lisp code is translated into assembly. The advantage of interpreted code is that debugging is easier (the stack trace contains more information); on the other hand execution of compiled code is much faster. Jack Trades -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
