[Stackless] Barriers to getting stackless into Python trunk?

[Christian Tismer]

Jim Kleckner wrote:
> Richard Tew wrote:
>> On 9/20/07, Jim Kleckner <jek-stackless at kleckner.net> wrote:
>>   
>>> What are the barriers to getting it integrated into the
>>> main trunk development of Python (and presumably Python 3k) ?
>>>     
>> There was related discussion on the python-dev mailing list earlier this year:
>> http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2007-February/071030.html

Yes, these barriers are pretty obvious and have been discussed
many times, but this topic is coming up again and again
so I feel obliged to do a final write-up about
"Why Stackless will not go into Python main-stream and why it shouldn't".

> Are there any changes to the core that, if adopted,
> would reduce the effort of maintaining stackless?

If it would be adopted, it would spread efforts between the Python
maintainers. Right not, effort is spread on Richard, most of it.
I want to change this a bit, btw.
But effectively, no. I think the effort needed to maintain
stackless has reached a somewhat unavoidable minimum limit.
Still it is quite a lot. But I think there is not much space
left or you would loose features.

> At the risk of off-thread discussion, do you like the idea
> of renaming stackless as microthreads?

No, I do not like the idea at all.
The name stackless is pretty right in the sense of current
C-based stackless python. It will also be correct if C-based
stackless will be based upon co-routines.
Microthreads are way too specific to be a candidate.
 From the POV of PyPy, Stackless may not be the correct name.
But in the large, it spells the independence from the C stacks
dictature, however this will be implemented.
Microthreads are one specific concept amoung five or more others.

cheers - chris
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