On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 2:52 PM, Brett Cannon <br...@python.org> wrote:
>> >> still far from seeing good reasoning. Please, correct me, but so far i >> >> saw 2: >> >> >> >> 1. It is impossible to load C extensions >> >> 2. Error handling is bad >> >> >> >> None of these reasons seems to be good enough to lead to a conclusion >> >> that wheel used as jar-like thing is not needed. Here is how i see it >> >> (again probably to my lack of knowledge): >> >> >> >> 1. Yes there is a group of "elite" interesting projects that are using >> >> C extensions together with python code. What i don't understand is why >> >> are wheels supposed to be tailored to the needs of the hybrid projects >> >> instead of making pure python first priority? There is big crowd using >> >> C extensions, but how much bigger is the crowd who doesn't? Why law >> >> abiding pure python developer should jump through the hoops? >> > >> > Because C extensions are not "elite", they are pretty common. It's >> > somewhat >> > rare in my experience to see a non trivial project that doesn't have a C >> > extension somewhere in it. >> >> Isn't this a self contradictory statement? C extensions are quite >> common for non-trivial project. non-trivial is not common. >> Doesn't it mean that C extensions are rarely used for common trivial >> stuff? You also implying that there were non-trivial projects that >> didn't need C extensions. Or are you trying to make an argument that >> the overall majority of python projects have C extensions? > > > He's trying to argue that enough projects use C extensions that to have > special support for projects that don't use them is supporting a special > case. The Zen of Python says "Special cases aren't special enough to break > the rules" and explicitly having wheels support direct execution only when > they contain pure Python is supporting a special case. Obviously you can > argue over at what point something stops being a "special case", but > considering venvs isolate code well and are the officially supported way to > isolate code then that makes stuff that goes passed what venv can do a > special case. yes, you got it absolutely right - I'm coming from the point of view that the C extension is a special case. It's even called extension! And pure python is never special case, therefore should take priority. > >> >> Is python >> such a bad language it cannot deal with simple stuff without C being >> involved? > > > The use of a C extension does not necessarily mean a shortcoming of Python. > People can write performance-critical code in C so as to get that last bit > of speed in heavily executed code in a tight loop, etc. It has nothing to do > with Python not being able to handle something and more that C code can > simply be faster when coded correctly; it's a feature and not a band-aid. > > -Brett > I understand that, i was sarcastic;) But thank you! Thanks, Eugene _______________________________________________ Distutils-SIG maillist - Distutils-SIG@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/distutils-sig
