Grant Edwards wrote:
On 2008-10-13, Ognjen Bezanov <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I am a third year computer science student and I'm the process of
selection for my final year project.
One option that was thought up was the idea of implement my
own version of the python interpreter (I'm referring to
CPython here). Either as a process running on another OS or as
a process running directly on the CPU.
Now, I can't seem to find a decent source of information on
the python interpreter.
You mean the virtual machine?
Yes, I presume there is a CPU implementation that executes the byte
code, but that is pretty much the limit of my knowlede
I have made the assumption that Python works very much like
Java, you have code that is compiled into bytecode, which is
then executed in a virtual machine. IS this correct?
Yes. There are python compilers that generate bytecode for a
variety of VMs:
* CPython -- Python Virtual Machine (PVM)
* Jython -- Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
* Iron Python -- .Net Virtual Machine
Is there a good source to give me an overview of Python
internals? (I can look at the code, but I would find it easier
to understand if I can see the "big picture" as well)
The internals of what? One of the compilers? The PVM?
Well, how does python execute code (note, when I talk about "Python", I
mean the CPython implementation)? I know that for C we first compile
into into assembly, then assemble that into machine code. What is the
process for Python? I assume:
Python code ---[compile]--> Python bytecode ---[execute on Virtual
machine]--> machine code.
But I'm not sure.
Also, any pro's out there willing to chime on the feasibility
of implementing python to run directly on the hardware
(without an underlying OS)? I don't expect 100% compatibility,
but would the basics (branching, looping, arithmatic) be
feasible?
I would think so.
Without any file, terminal, or network I/O, I don't see how
you'll be able to do anything useful...
Well, It is more of a academic task, I don't think I will end up with a
groundbreaking python implementation or anything like that, but it would
be interesting (and a learning experience for me).
I would probably implement some simple I/O (so keyboard input and
character output to screen) as part of the implementation.
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