John Nagle, 10.12.2010 21:02:
Probably the biggest practical problem with CPython is that C modules have to be closely matched to the version of CPython. There's no well-defined API that doesn't change.
Well, there are no huge differences between CPython versions (apart from the Py_ssize_t change back in 2.5), and porting isn't as hard as you seem to suggest here.
This make life easier for Guido and tough on everybody else. That's the real cause of Python's "version hell".
If you write your code in Cython instead of C, it's a lot easier to keep it portable across CPython versions (and C compilers). It's also a lot easier to write it in the first place.
Note also that Py3.2 introduces a stable ABI for extension modules. This implies a stable API as well.
Stefan -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
