On Tue, May 16, 2017 at 7:01 AM, Deborah Swanson <pyt...@deborahswanson.net> wrote: > But I'm a little more mystified that official Python builds are leaning > on Visual C++ (and that's what the crutch comment was primarily aimed > at). Perhaps they're just as resource needy as the extension developers > are and new requirements have come up as Python 3 progresses that they > don't already have Python build and installation tools written and > tested for. I'd be willing to step into that void when my Python skills > are equal to the task (and my health permitting, of course). But that > would be years from now, and maybe someone else will step up before > then. I'm really thinking that build has languished far behind the rest > of the language's development for way too long. > > > Maybe I have more pride in the Python language than is right and proper, > but I do think it would be worth the relatively small investment to make > and start growing Python's own build and installation tools asap. Python > will be the reigning Queen of coding languages someday. Certainly seems > like she should have all her own working parts and be beholden to no > one. ;)
You seem to be of the opinion that some day, binary executables will be compiled using pure Python code. Maybe that's true; maybe it's not. The point is, though, that high performance binaries can't be created without a LOT of expertise relating to the OS, the standard library, the CPU architecture, etc, etc, etc. That expertise has been coalesced into existing C compilers (I mentioned gcc, clang, and msvc earlier; others also exist but those are the most popular), and throwing that out means having a subpar Python. Perhaps a future version of gcc will be implemented in Python. Would you then say that Python is beholden to no one? You would still need to have a C compiler installed in order to compile extension modules. It's too big to include with every single Python installation. So you'd have the same situation even then. ChrisA -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
